Outraged Women on TikTok Compare NFL Player Harrison Butker's Commencement Speech to 'Handmaid's Tale' and Use a Robert Irwin Speech to Show How Real Men Support Women

[Disclaimer: Yes, this is biased, the person writing this is a happily unmarried woman with a college degree…]

This speech is leaving women speechless. Harrison Butker, a kicker for the NFL Chiefs, gave a commencement speech at the graduation of a Benedictine College class recently. The room was filled with men AND women, and yet he chose to address the “ladies” specifically to tell them that their education is a lie and their life will only start once they become homemakers.

We are not even exaggerating, you can find the entire transcript of his speech on this very religious website here.  Here is an exceptionally upsetting excerpt from the speech that many TikTokers are shining a light on:

"For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world… 

I say all of this to you because I have seen it firsthand how much happier someone can be when they disregard the outside noise and move closer and closer to God's will in their life. Isabelle's [his wife] dream of having a career might not have come true, but if you asked her today if she has any regrets on her decision, she would laugh out loud, without hesitation, and say, 'Heck, No.'…"

It's incredible that in 2024 a speech like that can be made at a place of higher education that educates thousands of women. He even goes as far to say his wife's life didn't begin until she married him and started having his baby. Plus, he wasn't just hateful against ambitious women, Butker also made sure to force his religious views onto the audience and talk down to the LGBTQ+ community. His reply to “setting the record straight” was somehow even WORSE than the speech… 

^{@thesportsmemery}

Woman are outraged and are taking to social media to express their frustration and fear with hearing such a speech. They are taking videos and excerpts from his speech and playing it side-by-side with clips from the series Handmaid's Tale, which, if you didn't know, is basically about turning women in to livestock. Terrifyingly, they eerily go perfectly together…

One woman uses this moment to shine a light on a man who uses his spotlight to support women, and that is Robert Iwrin, the son of the late Steve Irwin. He recently spoke at an Endometriosis benefit to call men into action to join him in his support for women's health. He said:

“It's time for men to discuss and prioritize women's health. This is the time! And I am very proud as a bloke, as a dude, to be out there fighting the fight and making this a discussion, a mainstream discussion that we all have to take together. It's time to unify. Seeing Bindi's endometriosis journey was devastating and inspiring, to say the least. It was incredibly hard to see someone that I and we love so dearly in so much pain every single day, and to hit so many walls, all these red lights. But eventually, through a lot of perseverance, Bindi was able to find answers. And as soon as she started down the road of endometriosis, it was green lights. Everything started to make sense. Her bravery is something that I will never forget. My two greatest inspirations throughout my life have been women, my sister and my mum. And Bindi showed us all. Through unimaginable pain, she came out the other side of it and decided to use her voice, her platform, and her story to hopefully inspire others. And that's just Bindi. That's what she's all about. It doesn't matter what happens, she gives it 100% and she lifts everyone else up along with her."

So as you can see it is not impossible for famous men to support equality and women's rights, and yet, Butker sure makes it seem like it is. Another absolutely mind-boggling piece to this upsetting situation is that Butker's own mother is a physicist AND he quotes Taylor Swift, a very outspoken feminist, in his own speech… Like, WHAT IS HAPPENING?