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<\/p>\nGay lifestyle magazine Attitude is facing backlash after naming transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney as its ‘Woman of the Year.’<\/p>\n
The US TikTok star, who documented her transition on the video sharing platform last year, accepted the title this week at the Virgin Atlantic sponsored awards bash in London.<\/p>\n
But critics slammed the decision, accusing the awards of ‘gaslighting women everywhere’ with prominent feminist campaigner Maya Forstater calling it an ‘insult.’<\/p>\n
In her acceptance speech Mulvaney said being honoured with the gong ‘from a queer publication’ ‘means so much more to me.’<\/p>\n
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.’<\/p>\n
But speaking to 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.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney has won Attitude magazine’s Woman of the Year award<\/p>\n
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The influencer \u2014 who came out as a transgender woman during the COVID-19 pandemic \u2014 posed in a gown with a billowing ruffled skirt<\/p>\n
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At one point the social media personality switched out of the silver gown into a transparent black dress<\/p>\n
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Winner: The TikTok star later posed in the\u00a0Winners Room<\/p>\n
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In her acceptance speech Mulvaney said being honoured with the gong ‘from a queer publication’ ‘means so much more to me.’<\/p>\n
Posting an image of Attitude’s magazine cover with Mulvaney on the front, Piers Morgan wrote on X: ‘Another ludicrous slap in the face to actual women.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
TV personality Charly Arnolt also tweeted: ‘There are nearly 4B women in the world, and of course Dylan Mulvaney wins ‘Woman of the Year’.<\/p>\n
TalkTV presenter and\u00a0NHS\u00a0GP Dr Renee Hoenderkamp added: ‘This is just gaslighting women everywhere.’<\/p>\n
Others congratulated Mulvaney and said she looked ‘stunning’ on Attitude magazine’s front cover.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
American TikTok star\u00a0Mulvaney\u00a0was given the title this week after spending\u00a0much of the first half of the year embroiled in controversy over her Bud Light partnership, which cost the beer company $400million in sales.<\/p>\n
In her acceptance speech, Mulvany added:\u00a0‘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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘But as long as I have the queer community that sees me for my truth, I’m going to be OK.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘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.<\/p>\n
‘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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘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.’<\/p>\n
She went on to say that ‘we’re all in this together’ and thanked a list of people including her mother, her stylists, her life coach, her agent and her best friend.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=htMWG1zZfwU%3Frel%3D0
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‘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’<\/p>\n
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\u00a0The dramatic dress also featured a gorgeous jeweled mesh bodice with black straps<\/p>\n
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Some slammed the decision as ‘ludicrous’ and an ‘insult to women’ but others congratulated the winner and said she looked ‘stunning’ on Attitude magazine’s front cover\u00a0<\/p>\n
The event at the Roundhouse in Camden, London, is held to benefit the Attitude Magazine Foundation, which raises money for LGBT causes.<\/p>\n
It was hosted on Wednesday by Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden and comedian Alan Carr.<\/p>\n
Holden said: ‘Since being crowned an Honorary Gay in 2017, it’s always been a dream of mine to host the Attitude Awards, and I couldn’t think of a better person to co-host with than my dear friend Alan Carr.<\/p>\n
‘It’s so important right now to stand together as one and embrace this beautifully diverse world we live in and accept everyone for who they are.’<\/p>\n
Carr said: ‘It’s been a mixed year for our LGBTQIA+ family, some amazing progress has been made and yet some really distressing setbacks have knocked us for six, which just makes the Attitude Awards even more important and essential.’<\/p>\n
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Mulvaney worked with Bud Light in April as part of their March Madness campaign and was gifted a can of the light beer with her face on it \u2013 which sparked outrage<\/p>\n
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Her Bud Light ad triggered corporate layoffs and the stripping it of its long-held title of America’s favourite beer.<\/p>\n
The backlash caused Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, to lose $400million in sales \u2013 as their total US revenue dropped 10.5 percent compared to the year before.<\/p>\n
Mulvaney had posted herself drinking Bud Light using the hashtag #budlightpartner, before joking she didn’t know what sport she was promoting.<\/p>\n
Since the fiasco, Anheuser-Busch scrambled to cling on to its reputation as an all-American company without distancing itself from the LGBTQ groups it has long supported.<\/p>\n
The brand has neither apologised for the campaign nor has it doubled down on it, with CEO Brendan Whitworth attempting a tightrope of diplomacy in the few interviews he’s agreed to since the fallout began.<\/p>\n