Turning Point USA conference for young women leaders suggests their role is to get married and have babies
The “Young Women’s Leadership Summit” included dating advice from Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens
Written by Madeline Peltz
Research contributions from Justin Horowitz, Jacina Hollins-Borges & John Knefel
Published
At Turning Point USA’s recent “Young Women’s Leadership Summit” in Dallas, Texas, speakers repeatedly dispensed advice to the audience of high school and college-age women on how to find a “dude-servative,” create a “godly foundation for your relationship,” get married, and have children.
The event, which was billed as a “celebration of freedom and femininity” for “cuteservatives,” included appearances from TPUSA personalities, including founder Charlie Kirk and Alex Clark, host of the “Poplitics” Instagram show that covers “pop culture without the propaganda,” as well as media denizens from the Trumpworld extended universe such as The Daily Wire’s Candace Owens, right-wing radio host Dana Loesch, Lara Trump, Fox’s Kayleigh McEnany, and more. The glitzy images promoting the event were all over TPUSA's social media accounts, encouraging attendance and sharing content from the speeches.
The consistent message was simple and clear: Young women ought to aspire to find a man who will marry them and shepherd them through life, followed by having babies and dedicating themselves to domestic responsibilities.
Alex Clark, the right-wing influencer and face of TPUSA’s efforts to recruit young women through cutesy, girly lifestyle content, was YWLS’s first speaker. She kicked off day one with a reference to Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do,” saying, “I’m sorry, the old conservative movement can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Because it’s dead,” before making her grand entrance replete with smoke machines and a glittery background.
During her speech, she said the theme of the conference was “pretty fed up” because “we are pretty but we are pissed off.” She promised that the “biggest, baddest voices in the conservative movement” were on the conference’s lineup and might “actually have some advice for you on how to find your dude-servative.” The audience cheered, and she said, “We got real loud in the audience for that.”
Clark was followed by TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, who took to the stage on each of the three days of the conference. On day one, he encouraged the audience to start a chapter at their high school or college, saying the effort might lead to an engagement because “if you want to go meet conservative men that have their act together, that aren’t like, woke beta men, like, start a Turning Point USA chapter, you’ll meet a lot of them.”
In his speech on day two, Kirk said the “biblical model” for women to pursue in romantic relationships is a partner who is “a protector and a leader, and deep down, a vast majority of you agree.” And during a question and answer session on day three, Kirk told the audience to “make yourself presentable” to attract a man. His advice was to join a church, befriend the pastor’s wife, and “hold yourself to a high standard” including by waiting to have sex until marriage, which is “something that some women struggle with.”
Conservative commentator, frequent Fox News guest, and host of Blaze Media’s Relatable podcast Allie Beth Stuckey appeared on day two of the conference to explain to the audience that “every woman has not only the capability, but also the calling, to be a mother.” Stuckey explained that she meant “every woman has a role to play in using her unique capabilities as a woman to shape, to protect, and to prepare the next generation for what’s to come.”
On day two of the conference, Candace Owens, who served as the communications director for Turning Point USA until she left after praising Hitler, said that “your superpower, you will find, is motherhood,” and “our entire lives we are being conditioned to believe that our fertility is a curse.”
She also responded to a question from an audience member who asked how she could “use” her “femininity to attract good men and to hopefully find a husband someday.” Owens said, “Men don’t like women that act like men,” and “You have way more luck when you begin tapping into that nurturing aspect, your natural superpowers. Men just find those women to be more desirable.” She also instructed them to “let men lead.”
Day two also featured a panel with Christian marriage counselors Victor and Eileen Marx titled “Creating a godly foundation for your relationship.” Victor Marx, who refers to Eileen as “my bride,” compared his wife to a car, making the analogy that you’d buy a Ferrari without test driving it. Eileen added, “Ladies, that’s the kind of man you want. Someone who honors you. … I mean, a Ferrari? Thank you.”
One of the most cringeworthy moments of the conference came on day three, when meme lord Benny Johnson took the stage. First, he implored the YWLS attendees to have “more babies” to make “more Americans.”
He later asked the young women, “Who in this room is unmarried? Oh my, OK. Well, Kyle Rittenhouse is backstage,” suggesting that the teen vigilante turned right-wing media superstar would make a good partner. Johnson then asked, “Would you like to marry a man of high value? Would you like to marry a man of high spiritual value? Would you like to marry a man of high physical value? Well, too bad. Charlie Kirk is already taken.” He suggested that in order to achieve this type of relationship, “if you are a woman of high value, you will attract a man of high value.”
And it wouldn’t be a true right-wing event without the organizers selling the audience something. At one point, the conference ran an advertisement for an invite-only dating app for conservatives called “The Right Stuff,” which will “give you the chance to meet a conservative guy that you could potentially get married to one day.”