Fair Play for Women sent a letter to UN Women.

In December the UN Women’s UK committee appointed a male who presents in a highly sexualised stereotype of womanhood as an ambassador for women. We coordinated a letter from seventeen UK campaign groups to register our dismay, as reported in the Times today.

UN Women has made a point of demonstrating that it considers males can become women. It’s disappointing to see the UK committee go so far as to select a male to represent women. Their credibility is in tatters.

UN Women made such a point of demonstrating that it considers males can become women that it actually appointed a male to represent women. In other words UN Women made a point of insulting women, on purpose, with deep malice aforethought. Why bother to be UN Women at all then? Why not just give that up and be UN Men Who Pretend To Be Women instead?

From the letter:

We wish to register our dismay and disappointment at the appointment of a male activist, Munroe Bergdorf, as a UN Women UK champion. The female population of the UK is more than 33 million, yet you have ignored every one of us and chosen a male.

And not just any male, but a male who explicitly tells women to shut up about their womeny problems.

Munroe Bergdorf’s well-publicised activism is not pro-women. This person has objected to women making references to our female bodies. Yet many issues affecting women, such as FGM, child marriage and forced marriage, reproductive rights, male violence against women and girls, rape as a war crime, pregnancy and maternity healthcare, and more, are inextricably linked with our female biology. How can this person be a champion of women if these issues are deemed unmentionable?

And in case that’s not enough? The guy’s an asshole.

Bergdorf resigned as an adviser on LGBT+ to the UK Labour Party after previous homophobic and racist posts on social media were revealed. These included saying that “all white people” are “violent racists” and “fuck you, stupid dirty and smelly nigga”. There are numerous examples of homophobic messaging, using expressions like “faggot” and “old poof”, “hairy barren lesbian” and “barren…hairy dyke”.

So UN Women decided that’s the guy for them?

The UK has reason to be proud of its strong feminist credentials. We have a dynamic feminist sector with numerous campaign groups advocating for women and girls. If UN Women UK wants to select a women’s ambassador there is plenty of choice. To ignore all these pro- women activists in favour of a male advocating only for people like themselves seems like a deliberate message which many women in the UK and elsewhere will read as anti-female.

Your nomination for a women’s ambassador should be a female who is willing and determined to speak about the issues affecting women and girls. Munroe Bergdorf is unsuitable in every regard.

We call upon UN Women UK to reconsider.

But of course they won’t.