University poster claims trans women ‘rape women every nine minutes’
A poster has been put up at University of Bristol misgendering trans women and claiming cis women need to “surrender their boundaries”.
The poster appears to be a parody of one put up by Bristol’s LGBT society which went viral in November. The original poster read “If you’re out in public and you can’t figure out a stranger’s gender, follow these simple steps: 1. Don’t worry about it.” Bristol LGBT society widespread praise for its trans-positive campaign.
The new posters claim to be giving advice for women if “a man tries to enter a women’s bathroom”. They refer to trans women as “transgender males” and claim they rape women “every nine minutes”. Its advice is “kindly surrender your boundaries” and “don’t worry about it, men know better than you.”
It claims to be from the “MENZ+ Society” which does not exist, but appears to be mocking the trans-positive stance of Bristol’s LGBT+ Society. The style is similar to language used by anti-trans feminists, often referred to as TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists).
Bristol University Feminist Society condemned the posters. President Hattie Stamp told Epigram, Bristol’s student newspaper: “I think it’s a really hateful thing to do, its intention is to make trans people feel unsafe at Uni by calling them transgender males (when they self-identify as a woman) and completely dismisses their experiences and incites discrimination.”
Equality, Liberation and Access Officer Alice Phillips said: “I’m extremely disturbed by the appearance of this poster in the Wills Memorial building.
“There is absolutely no place for transphobia at the University of Bristol and as a Union we’re going to be doing everything we can to find out where this has come from.
“Security services are going to be extra vigilant on their patrols and are going to be taking down any posters they see.”
No one has claimed responsibility for the poster.