A letter was written by Fair Play for Women on behalf of 17 UK activist groups condemning the decision entitled "A letter to UN Women: this male does not represent us." It was prefaced: "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."
"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," it added.
The letter expressed the groups' "dismay and disappointment" over Munroe Bergdorf, a "male activist," being appointed in the role and added, "The female population of the UK is more than 33 million, yet you have ignored every one of us and chosen a male."
They revealed that Bergdorf had taken issue in the past over "women making references to our female bodies."
They called the trans-identified male "entirely unsuitable" based on his past actions, citing his behavior leading to his forced resignation as an LGBT+ adviser to the UK Labour Party.
This included extremely vulgar and derogatory posts towards white people, lesbians, and gays, calling "all white people" "violent racists" and using expressions such as "faggot," "old poof," on X to respond to critics. He once made fun of a friend in Tweets uncovered by The Times, saying "How’s your barren womb? We all know your little secret...hairy lesbian!"
Bergdorf even stated he would like to "gay bash" a character from the show 'Glee," a term coined to describe violence against gay people.
In more recent posts on Bergdorf's social media, the ex-DJ has come out in full support of Palestine, posting an image showing a sign reading "Queers for a free Palestine."
Bergdorf posed with the highly scrutinized Dylan Mulvaney, best known for the "days of girlhood" TikTok series and destroying the Bud Light brand after a marketing partnership
The letter continued: "We agree with Munroe Bergdorf about 'the importance of dismantling gender stereotypes in advertising and media'. But we do not see how a male whose presentation as a 'woman' is an extreme, sexualised version of femininity can contribute to this aim. On the contrary, Bergdorf’s gender presentation embodies the objectification which most women reject as a particularly demeaning example of offensive gender stereotypes."
In Bergdorf's celebratory announcement of his appointment on Instagram, he wrote that he "will use this role to further advocate for the progress, safety, inclusion and empowerment of ALL women and girls, of all communities and identities."
Bergdorf continued: "I will continue to draw attention to the systemic and social impact of misogyny, transphobia and gender based inequality within the UK—In order to help provide data and insight that contributes to forming tangible methods of tracking and countering it."
