‘I will never reach an acceptable version of womanhood by those hateful people standards’
Transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, has been named as Woman of the Year by Attitude magazine.
The TikTok star, who documented her transition on the platform, accepted the award at a Virgin Atlantic sponsored ceremony in London.
While many have championed Mulvaney and congratulated her, others have accused the decision to award Woman of the Year to a transgender woman of “gaslighting women everywhere” with feminist campaigner Maya Forstater going so far as to claim it is an “insult”.
Accepting the award, Mulvaney said that she is honoured to be accepting the award especially “from a queer publication” adding that it “means so much to me”.
She said: “Some see me as the woman of the year, some see me as the woman of a year and some change as I only publicly came out online 560 days ago – and some people don’t see me as a woman at all.”
She continued: “Here’s what I’ve realised: No matter how hard I try or what I wear or what I say or what surgeries I get I will never reach an acceptable version of womanhood by those hateful people standards.
“But as long as I have the queer community that sees me for my truth, I’m going to be OK.
“And I’m equally grateful that this title is happening in the UK and not just because I am deeply attracted to your accents but I because I came to London on holiday this summer after months of feeling isolated and when I arrived I didn’t feel that baggage that I was carrying in the US and I didn’t feel like the trans beer girl.
“I didn’t walk into rooms and think does that person hate me. I was just another girl walking around in a Burberry trench on her way to a West End musical.
“I romantised this country as a safe place and as dangerous as it is for trans people right now, maybe it’s less about where we are and more about who we’re with – and if I’m surrounded by people like you, this still can be one of my safe spaces.”
Numerous people on X have celebrated Attitude’s decision to give the award to Mulvaney, however others have labeled it a shambles.
Speaking to the MailOnline, Maya Forstater said: “It is an insult to women. It is hard to imagine something more misogynist than to pronounce that no woman has achieved anything more significant this year through their work than a man putting on a dress and having cosmetic surgery.”
Piers Morgan also jumped on the bandwagon calling it “another ludicrous slap in the face to actual women”.
TV personality Charly Arnolt tweeted: “There are nearly 4B women in the world, and of course Dylan Mulvaney wins ‘Woman of the Year’.”
While TalkTV presenter and NHS GP Dr Renee Hoenderkamp added: “This is just gaslighting women everywhere.”
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