Open Letter to the British Film Institute

Get a grip and pick from one of thousands of massively talented, actual born women instead of a man in womanface.

Giving this honour to Munroe suggests that the only worthy ‘woman’ is one born male. That along with being ‘better ‘ directors, editors etc , males also make better women than mere females.

In this male dominated industry it seems incongruous to have a trans person speak on behalf of women. Would you have a woman speak for trans people at an event about trans film makers?

Choosing a male who does not make films is an insult and I will not be going to the bfi again if this goes ahead

No XY should speak for a XX!

Woman with a Movie Camera event with a man doing the keynote speech. Ridiculous. You do know the story of The Empersors New Clothes dontcha? .

BFI's choice of a misogynist and homophone to make this speech looks to me like deliberate provocation and a joke at the expense of its female employees and supporters. It's lost my support.

A woman should speak for women!

Terrible decision. It speaks more of bandwagon jumping than centring and hearing the voices of women.

I'm absolutely outraged by the plan to use a male born transgender person to give the keynote speech at your event 'women in film', he hadn't even had much experience of film making #erasure of women

This is satire, right? What? The BFI honestly want to headline a Women in Film making gig with someone who is neither a woman nor a film maker?????????

Equal rights and obligations for all people (man women )regardless of gender or race .

In a 'male-dominated industry' you have chosen a transwoman to celebrate women in film. Munroe Bergdorf is a racist, what exactly has he done for the film industry?

This is an absurd decision, BFI. You might think you are being edgy and progressive, but you are simply demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the structures that exclude women from this and so many other industries.

Using a trans celebrity rather rather than a female filmmaker to host completely misses the point of this event. MB is well known for racist, homophobic and misogynistic views. Many women do not agree that transwomen are women or that those born and raised as males represent us, even though this dogma is being forced upon us. Please choose someone more suitable to represent women in the film industry. Although a small percentage of filmmakers are female, there are still plenty to choose from who do not have such a controversial history and tenuous link with the subject.

Please rethink this choice - there must be many suitable women for this task, Bergdorf is not one of them. #erasingwomen

It is an exercise in how to make oppression progressive. Genderism is a new 'woke' way of saying 'she wanted it, they all do'.

Don't erase women

This is an outrage. If Bergdorf is to speak, the whole audience should walk out.

Any celebration of women in the current climate is hard won and desperately important. Although the temptation to join the current movement towards being "inclusive" and "progressive" is strong it appears we have lost sight of the basics. Celebrating women is enough. We don't to look further for special or on-trend celebrities to demonstrate inclusion. To prioritise a person born a male over all actual women in order to celebrate the achievements of women is hurtful and illogical.