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21 Aug, 2018 11:12

Hate speech or truth? ‘Women don’t have penises’ stickers scattered across Liverpool beach

Hate speech or truth? ‘Women don’t have penises’ stickers scattered across Liverpool beach

Whether a woman has a penis or not is usually not up for debate. Yet it now seems to have polarized the public, as stickers insinuating females do not have male genitalia have been plastered across a beach in Liverpool.

The phallus-shaped stickers have been stuck on some male sculptures – crafted by Angel of the North creator Antony Gormley – on Crosby Beach. They bear the statement: “Women don’t have penises.”

The stickers were put up by members of Liverpool ReSisters, who said they want to raise awareness about the “potential threat to sex-based rights and women’s rights” posed by proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act.

The legislation of the EU would allow for transgender people to achieve legal recognition without a medical diagnosis.

Liverpool ReSisters defended its stunt on the basis that girls need their own spaces to fend off “male violence and harassment in public and in private space.”

“Women don’t have penises. This is not hate speech, it is not transphobia, it is a simple statement of biological fact,” according to a press release.

The Mayor of Liverpool condemned the act by what has been branded the ‘TERF’ (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) group and said police were investigating the incident to find those responsible.

The stickers sparked a fiery debate on Twitter, with some people saying it is “ludicrous” a police investigation was opened over a “truthful” statement.

Another contested self-identification saying:

While another said it is unfair to label “women who are afraid of female erasure transphobic.” 

But opposition to the group over its “disgusting” stickers far outdid the support.

One called the plastering of sculptures mere “vandalism,” while others slammed the stickers as “nasty garbage.”

Others pointed out the ReSisters’ campaign stems from their struggle to redefine themselves.

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