Monty Python's 'Loretta': Then and Now

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In recent years, much has been made of the classic Monty Python “Loretta” scene from the 1979 film Life of Brian. To refresh our memories, the People’s Front of Judea (not to be confused with the Judean People’s Front!) are plotting their overthrow of Roman tyranny. As Reg (played by John Cleese) is moderating the discussion, Francis (Michael Palin) espouses the inalienable rights of every man while Stan (Eric Idle) continually interrupts Francis’ “every man” statements with the addition of “or every woman,” leading Francis to eventually forget what he was saying in the first place. When Francis regains his thoughts and asks Stan why he is “always on about women,” Stan replies that he wants to be one. In fact, he henceforth wishes to be known as Loretta (which is “his right as a man”). He further declares that he wants to have babies (“It’s every man’s right to have babies.”) and when Reg pushes back that men can’t have babies, Stan’s response sums up the exchange: “Don’t you oppress me!”

Who could have known that this piece would ring with such prescience 46 years later? Today, the progressive left insists that men can indeed have babies. They confidently assert that gender is not tied to sex indicators such as reproductive organs, in which case biological women who identify as men can have babies -- and theoretically, if they choose, change their name to Stan. The ubiquitous “pregnant man” emoji reflects this cultural view (although, according to Emojipedia, this image is sometimes used to represent a man who has eaten too much).

It turns out, though, that Brian is not Python’s only comedic prophecy of today’s anything-goes Gender Studies course. In season two, episode one of Python’s Flying Circus BBC series (1969), Cleese portrays Ken Clean-Air System, a boxer who is long on brawn and light on brains, highlighted by the scene in which his trainer (Palin) awakens him each morning by driving a metal peg into Ken’s skull, then physically pushing him out the door and into his morning jog.

In this skit, Ken is preparing to fight -- you guessed it -- a woman, and in true Python fashion, hilarity ensues. The narrator introduces Ken’s upcoming opponent, Petula Wilcox (played by Python regular Connie Booth), as “the Birmingham girl who was a shorthand typist before turning pro.” To this, Wilcox adds, “I’m a southpaw and I think this will confuse him, particularly with his brain problems.”

As it turns out, Ken’s brain problems are no problem at all. In a fast-motion boxing scene, Ken repeatedly and unceremoniously flattens Wilcox to the mat 17 times, with the 18th being the knockout blow. All the while, the audience guffaws at the zaniness of it all because, of course, a woman in the boxing ring with a man is no contest at all.

Tell that, however, to our current progressive leftist brethren (and sistren and/or “cis”tren, etc.). In 2024, three members of a California girls' basketball team were injured by a male Loretta playing for a Massachusetts team. The offended team called the game at halftime, in fact, to avoid further injuries. In 2023, a female field hockey athlete lost teeth from competing against a male opponent who, surprisingly, did not identify as a Loretta but was allowed by Massachusetts state law to participate because the school did not offer a male field hockey team. In 2022, a female volleyball player from North Carolina sustained life-changing injuries due to a net spike from the opposition’s Loretta. No wonder that a private Christian school in Vermont chose to forfeit a 2023 playoff competition against a team with a male athlete. No wonder also that San Jose State has been boycotted by several teams and has now been found in violation of Title IX after recruiting a Loretta and silencing women athletes who were “misgendering” him.

To quote a common Python line, the whole thing is just a bit silly. Yet “just a bit silly” sums up the mindset of modern trans-welcoming feminism, academia, Democrats, etc., all of which insist that the mantra “trans women are woman” is a substantive statement, not a question-begging reaffirmation of an unfounded premise. Such analyses, however, rarely occur to pink-haired campus activists with megaphones. Fortunately, it is occurring to brave female athletes who are forced to confront their silly culture with their right to compete fairly and avoid almost-certain injury. These women deserve our support in every way.

In the Life of Brian “Loretta” scene, an agreement is reached whereby the People’s Front of Judea will, as a symbolic struggle, fight the oppressors for Stan’s right to have babies. Unpersuaded, Reg (Cleese) characterizes this compromise as “symbolic of Stan’s struggle against reality.” Forty-six years ago, in the Ken Clean-Air System skit, Booth’s Petula Wilcox foreshadowed this modern struggle against reality as she was comically knocked to the mat time and again. Many young female athletes, however, are faced with the all-too-real and not-at-all-funny task of standing up to our life-imitating-Python world despite the threats, both existential and realized, against biological women. In typical British comedy fashion, Python’s Ken epitomizes the clear advantage that biological Kens have against biological Petulas. Seemingly, her comments about Ken’s brain problems apply equally (or equitably?) to modern feminists.

By the way, Cleese himself has recently stated that an upcoming stage adaptation of Brian will include the Loretta scene. The Pythonesque struggle to affirm reality continues.

Image: Eduardo Unda-Sanzana