Open Letter to the British Film Institute

This is about women, not trans women, especially one who doesn't even work in the film industry!

Representation is important. Please don't let biological men speak for women.

The decision to choose a transgender woman to host is insulting to the women who fought to be recognised in a male-dominated industry.

I have no concerns with a transperson showing at BFI on matters they represent or have expertise in. But for a transperson to represent 1. Women and 2. Filmmakers when they are not specifically experienced in either is unhelpful and demonstrably anti-women.

No one who's lived their whole life as a man can represent women's lived experience. Misogyny infects every element of our everyday lives. Let us be heard.

Is this some ironic commentary on the state of the film industry where a male with no film credit is considered more worthy to talk about the state of women in film than an actual woman?

Insulting, mysoginstic men in women face do not represent me. I am not a transphobe. I am a woman. We are being silenced.

Pick a woman who works in the industry who needs recognition please.

Please celebrate a woman who has actually got a career as a film maker. Please celebrate that woman to acknowledge that she achieved her career despite menstrual cycles, pregnancy and any other trait that women share. What you are actually doing is demeaning women in film because you've reduced women to the outfits that they wear. Women are more than that. Celebrate it!

I'm speechless with anger over this.

Monroe is not a woman and cannot speak for women, he is a misogynist.

While I am interested in what MB has to say about navigating the world of celebrity and fashion as a trans woman of colour, that is a separate topic. Please find a female speaker with the experience of living and working as a woman in the film industry to provide insight into the rampant SEXism that is still rampant within it.

Inappropriate and insulting. The mask slips - this is how seriously you are addressing sex discrimination

There are so many women who have worked in this industry and not received the recognition they deserve. Surely that's the point of this celebration. Therefore it's entirely inappropriate and offensive to choose someone that a) isn't a woman b) hasn't put the work in to be deserving.

Munroe Bergdorf is a very poor choice for the position of keynote speaker at this event. Obviously it’s up to you who you appoint but I fail to see what exactly the speaker has done to advance the cause of women in the film industry and can only see your choice as yet another example of poorly thought through ‘woke’ virtue signalling. Surely you can do better?

The irony of this is hilarious. A women's event and you choose a man to speak!!!!!

This was created because of sex based discrimination and oppression. Trans people may be discriminated against also but it’s not the same. Why not set something separate up for trans people?

Please stop writing women and their experiences out of history.

Disgraceful, misogynistic, and insulting choice. You should be ashamed.

Please do not allow this to go ahead. It is part of a move that subjugates the experiences of women. Choosing to change gender means different life experiences and opportunities. Choosing to identify as a woman does not mean you can represent women or understand the experience of being a woman. This decision colludes with the oppressive structures and attitudes in society. Please celebrate the work of transgender people in a different way.