Ulta Beauty Under Fire for Promoting Men Pretending to Be Women

Ulta Beauty is the self-proclaimed largest cosmetics retailer in the United States, boasting more than 1,300 stores across all 50 states. In 2021, Ulta Beauty had $8.6 billion in net sales. However, a recent YouTube video has enraged the makeup company’s female customers and sparked a boycott.

Ulta’s YouTube account with 84,000 subscribers hosts an online series titled “The Beauty Of.”

The first episode of the online show featured: “Virgie Tovar – author, activist, and expert in weight-based discrimination – has taken her body back from a fatphobic society and is feeling the sun on her stomach once again.”

The second episode was hosted by gender-fluid Latinx hairstylist David Lopez – who switches from “he/him” preferred pronouns to “they/them” pronouns based on what gender is selected at the time. Lopez has been non-binary and gender-fluid for two years.

The episode also starred transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney to discuss “the good, the bad, and the silly moments that come with finding girlhood.”

Mulvaney is a 25-year-old TikTok content creator who hosts a social media series titled “Days of Girlhood.” The “dylanmulvaney” TikTok account has more than 8.3 million followers and over 263 million likes.

Mulvaney declared that Mulvaney was a “girl” on March 12. In the social media post, Mulvaney mocked negative female stereotypes such as crying throughout the day and buying unaffordable dresses.

On Mulvaney’s 188th day of “girlhood” in September, Mulvaney was a featured speaker at Forbes Power Women’s Summit.

Mulvaney’s latest TikTok video features Mulvaney attempting to enter the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Walt Disney World. However, the beauty boutique based on the cartoon movie “Cinderella” only allows children ages 3 to 12 to enter.

In the Ulta YouTube video, the gender-fluid man and transgender individual discuss girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood.

The interview begins with Mulvaney claiming that some people upset with her “girlhood” series are transphobic.

“I get a lot of hate about calling myself a ‘girl’ and not a ‘woman.’ And because you know that term, they think I’m infantilizing myself or that you know, once you turn 18 you’re no longer a girl,” Mulvaney said. “So I think some of that’s rooted in transphobia.”

“I think in womanhood, I get shamed a lot for liking pink and liking glitter, and I’m like, ‘Why does that bother you so much?’ They think I’m lowering their standard of being a woman.” Mulvaney said, according to Reduxx – a feminist and pro-woman news website.

Lopez – who is a biological male – replied, “Misogyny. Patriarchy.”

Ulta released a 15-second video clip on its official Twitter account with nearly 700,000 followers.

Mulvaney – a biological male – declared, “I know I can find love, I know I can still be a performer, I know I can have a family. I want to be a mom one day — and I absolutely can!”

Mulvaney added, “And that’s why the narrative still has a long way to go because when I was grieving boy Dylan, I didn’t know those things were accessible to me.”

The Ulta Beauty Twitter account replied to