Open Letter to the British Film Institute

BFI managed to pick someone who has plenty to say about what women are doing wrong. How about picking a woman next time rather than a hyper sexualised parody of a woman who just berates us

Enough!!

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Know your place women! Appalling misogyny from the BFI - mind you don't choke on those virtue cookies!

What MB knows about feminism & film making wouldn't fill a postage stamp. What he is an expert on is dictating to actual women, policing their language & terminology, reducing 'female' to a superficial, plastic & pornified version of what he thinks females are.

I'm signing on the basis that one documentary about transitioning to 'become a woman' does not a credible body of work as a filmmaker make, regardless of the gender of that person. That this is the keynote speech about 'power and feminism' means it is even more shocking that the BFI would consider it appropriate. By all means include Munroe Bergdorf as a speaker on a subject about trans people's depictions and experiences - but not as the keynote authority on women's experience.

This is like a slap in the face for all of us females who work hard to convince our daughters and female students that they can achieve their goals. Keep women's recognition for those born and socialised females

How extraordinarily insulting to all the women working in film to choose a man who is not a filmmaker as the keynote speaker at this event. A slap in the face to all the women battling sexism to be taken seriously in film, and to all the girls dreaming of a career in film making. Forget it, female film makers, you'll never be as worthy of a platform as a man in womanface with only one presenting credit to his name.

MB hates women, it's as simple as that.

Too right!

Munroe Bergdorf would not be a problem if he were not a homophobic misogynist fetishising a hyper sexualised male idea of a subjugted women and demanding women who experience inequality he cannot imagine to not discuss it because it makes him feel invalid when we try to address our oppression. Munroe Bergdorf's homophobia and misogyny would not be acceptable from a man, its not acceptable from a man stating we have to ignore it because he identifies as a woman.

Choose a female ! Not a misogynistic male with barely any experience in film other being the subject of a self propagandizing documentary mocking women.

BFI this event is about respecting and advancing women film makers right?!

Those at the BFI who decided on a male key note speaker on women's representation in film, at least identify yourselves please!

I am deeply disappointed that the BFI has chosen a keynote speaker for this event who is not an actual filmmaker. It seems that they have been chosen for reasons connected to their outward appearance and/or chosen gender. This is surely against the BFI's own equality policies? Are they, a publicly funded body, allowed to do this? Surely you could have chosen an experienced female filmmaker to lead this keynote? And hopefully, at least a speaker who has spoken less aggressively in public about women. I am extremely disappointed in the BFI.

Total disbelief . Very angry

One might conclude from this ludicrous and perverse decision that the BFI has absolutely no interest in giving women a voice to discuss their genuine concerns of inequality in a male dominated industry, and seeks to muddy the real debate with one that will obscure the issues. Once again us women are to lectured to about what being a woman is...by a man. This event is a debate about female inequality in the film industry so the BFI in its wisdom seeks to give a non film maker male a major role in that debate. What could possibly go wrong? Just plain disgusting, but so typical.

BFI has dropped the ball here. You need to make it right

Bergdoff has made deeply misogynistic comments about women, about lesbian women, and has said that women discussing female biology on women's marches is transphobic. He does not empathise with women. He is a woman hating man, and should not be centred in an event such as this.

Munroe Bergdorf does not meet any of the criteria that would normally be applied by the BFI in selecting someone for such an event: there are tens, if not hundreds, of women with more experience of and insight into the challenges faced by women in the film industry; he has no apparent skills in any field and has demonstrated no interest in or commitment to the arts; he is relatively inarticulate and lacking in insight; and he has a track record of directing inappropriate, negative, prejudiced comments at whole groups of people. It seems highly unlikely that NONE of the key decision makers at the BFI would have had doubts about Bergdorf’s credentials; therefore one suspects that they have simply been too confused about the arguments or too afraid to stand up to the pervasive, Orwellian pressure to allow men to self-define as women and to appropriate women’s event and platforms All people should be treated as individuals and given equal opportunities, and minority groups, including trans-gender, are often oppressed and need a voice. It’s also true that society sets up gender stereotypes which can cause psychological harm to people. But Bergdorf’s preference for presenting a “feminine” persona to the world does not make him a woman, however convinced he is that he is one and however much surgery he has. He is conceptually confused (as is everyone who is going along with this): this is because there is no “essence of woman” that someone can look inside themselves and identify – all women are potentially mentally different and someone who is not a woman cannot “live as a woman” because there is no common essence or lifestyle choice that defines what a woman is (e.g. a woman can have sex with other women, cut her hair short and dress “like a man” but is still a woman). Being a woman means having 2 X chromosomes and the body that normally goes with that and then that leads to a set of wider life experiences which typically (not always) include menstruation,

Women first. Always.