Dunstable’s royal statue dressed up for gender battle #WomenStandUp

Dunstable’s famous Queen Eleanor statue has been hi-jacked to make a political statement for women.
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In the past 24 hours, Herts Women Stand Up! alongside ReSisters United, have carried out a campaign using the hashtag #WomenStandUp.

Statues of women across the UK, including Bedfordshire, now wear t-shirts stating the dictionary definition of woman: Adult Human Female. The Statues include Queen Eleanor in Dunstable and the Sea Scout statue on the Upper Lea Valley Walk near Luton, Sappho of Lesbos, in Howard Gardens in Letchworth, the “Tete a Tete” statue in Harpenden (Church Green), as well as statues in London, Manchester, Cambridge, Birmingham, Brighton and many other locations.

ReSisters United members say they are reclaiming the definition of women as “adult human females”. Debate has swirled around the use of this definition in recent months, with some people claiming people with male bodies, including those who have had no surgery or any medical treatment are women, and should be able to access women’s single sex services such as changing rooms, women’s refuges, dormitories, single sex hospital wards and women’s prisons, as well as being able to compete against women in sports, and join associations such as the Girl Guides.

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Organisations such as the Youth Hostel Association allow males to access female dormitories and showers as long as they self-declare their gender identity of “woman”.

Public bodies, government documents and lobbying groups are also removing the word “woman” to be replaced with phrases such as “menstruators”, “cervix havers” and “chest feeders”.

ReSisters United reported that in recent years, women who continue to affirm that only women are female have been bullied, censored, assaulted and silenced. Last September, Leeds City Council cancelled a meeting room that women had booked to hold a public meeting to discuss proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act.

A spokeswoman for ReSisters United commented: “The factual definition of woman has become taboo. With this action we send the message that women have the right to speak about our biology without shame, fear or retribution.”

ReSisters United and Herts Women Stand Up! say that biological sex matters and that feelings of gender should not take precedence when it comes to maintaining and upholding the rights and dignity of women.

The group is committed to lobbying for the right to single sex spaces.

#ReSistersUnited

#WomenStandUp