#fae johnstone

Our Marshall is Fae Johnstone, Trans Activist. I am so proud of how people have welcomed her this week. I am so proud of the number of people lining the streets in the spirit of acceptance and community.

We need to keep the sentiment year round. For my kids, and every child growing up LGBTQ2S+. HAPPY PRIDE!

The Horrifying Consequences of Anti-Trans Attacks

After I was featured in a chocolate bar campaign, I suffered through a cavalcade of right-wing terror

Too often, instances of anti-trans hate are treated as anomalies, one-offs of intolerance in a larger story of inclusivity. They’re not. Our naïveté about Canada’s supposed progressiveness blinds us to how the anti-trans movement exemplifies the broad coalition the far right has built and its ability to influence our social and political spheres. If this coalition can force trans people out of public life and create a hostile environment for them, they can do it to others. Too many outside our communities aren’t making the connection.

Hershey’s is facing backlash following the release of their International Women’s Day campaign, one which features a trans-identified male with a history of making disparaging comments about women. Many social media users are now calling for consumers to boycott the company. 

Trans activist Fae Johnstone is being featured in the SHE campaign by Hershey’s for International Women’s Day, which is due to take place on March 8. Johnstone excitedly announced his participation in the advertisement through Twitter on Wednesday.

Women on Twitter did not react positively to the news of Johnstone’s participation, with some calling it “female erasure.” Many began tagging the company and expressing their disappointment in the campaign, launching a hashtag “#HersheyHatesWomen” and threatening to boycott Hershey products.

“Hi @Hersheys WHY do you let a MAN who hates women and wants to silence us, represent WOMEN on International Women’s Day,” one user wrote, including a screenshot of a tweet from Johnstone calling for “TERFs” to be silenced. TERF is an acronym which stands for “trans exclusionary radical feminist,” but is often applied to any person, especially a female, who expresses critiques of gender ideology.

“He is not a woman and should not be featured in an International Women’s Day ad. There are many inspiring women who would have been a great choice to represent women but they chose a MAN. What a vile way to teach girls and women about male privilege. #BoycottHersheys,” another Twitter user said.

This is not the first time Johnstone, who identifies as “trans feminine and non-binary,” has been selected to take a platform representing women. 

In December of 2022, Johnstone was invited to give the keynote address at Durham College in Ontario, Canada for their National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women ceremony. The event was a memorial tribute held on the anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre. During the horrific act of mass femicide, 14 women, 13 students and one university staff member, were killed by a lone gunman who claimed he was retaliating against feminism.

“You’re women, you’re going to be engineers. You’re all a bunch of feminists. I hate feminists,” the shooter said after telling all of the males to exit a classroom. He opened fire on the remaining women in a horrific act that has now been recognized as terrorism by the Canadian government. 

After his keynote speech at the event, Johnstone was confronted by an attendee who questioned the University’s decision to platform him at the memorial ceremony.

Jennifer Anne, a woman’s rights campaigner, recorded her interaction with Johnstone, and uploaded the audio to Twitter. 

“I am wondering why, on this day, we would have a man dressed in women’s garb to talk to us about sex-based violence and keeping women safe? How can women stay safe in this environment?”

Johnstone casually dismissed the question.

Despite identifying himself as a “feminist,” Johnstone has previously attacked various feminist groups for failing to include men in their activism or for using sex-based language. 

In November of 2021, Johnstone made disparaging remarks towards the Canadian Femicide Observatory, a research and information centre which aims to prevent femicide and violence against women, for using “TERF rhetoric” on Twitter due to their overt focus on female victims of sex-based crime.

Johnstone also attacked the Declaration on Women’s Sex Based Rights, which advocates for women and girls on the basis of needing single-sex spaces and protection from violence, and has called for those who hold views critical of gender ideology to be “so vilified” that they are unable to publicly express their opinions on the debate.

Most recently, Johnstone advocated for the placement of a male rapist in a woman’s prison. Responding to fellow trans activist Peter Tatchell on Twitter, Johnstone compared segregating a transgender double rapist from the female general population to segregating lesbian inmates.

As well as attacking feminist organizations and those advocating for female only spaces, Johnstone is a proponent of “drag queen story hour” (DQSH). 

In one article he published last month, he called the opposition to DQSH a rise in “anti-queer hate” and called for protection bubbles around “queer spaces,” similar to the protection zone around abortion clinics.

Johnstone has worked extensively with different departments in the Canadian Government, including Health Canada. One Twitter user attended a sex-education workshop led by Johnstone and expressed concerns over some of the subject matter being discussed.

In a short statement regarding the controversy, Johnstone said: “It was, and continues to be, an immense honor to be included in Hershey’s Canada’s campaign, as a young trans woman and feminist advocate.”

Johnstone also tweeted that the backlash he has received shows “just how far we still have to go in the fight for feminist liberation and trans rights.”

Despite the negative feedback regarding the campaign from social media users, Hershey’s has doubled down on their decision to include Johnstone in the women’s empowerment campaign. 

Posting to Instagram, Hershey’s Canada said: “We value togetherness and recognize the strength created by diversity. Over the past three years, our Women’s History Month programming has been an inclusive celebration of women and their impact. We appreciate the countless people and meaningful partnerships behind these efforts.”

The comments made in response to their statement have been overwhelmingly negative, with women using the hashtags #STOPERASINGWOMEN and #BoycottHersheys in their replies.

This is not the first time social media users have called for a company to be boycotted for having men represent women. 

Feminine hygiene brands Tampax and Always have both faced scrutiny from consumers for using trans-identified males to sell their products. Earlier this year, women on social media called for a Tampax boycott after Jeffery Marsh, a 45 year old man who identifies as non-binary, spoke about being paid to promote tampons and other feminine hygiene products for the brand. 

Always, another feminine hygiene company, faced widespread backlash last year after transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney claimed to have received a sponsorship deal from them. Mulvaney would prompt yet another wave of anger from women after he was invited on an Ulta Beauty podcast to discuss girlhood and motherhood in October of 2022, resulting in #BoycottUlta trending on Twitter.

Brooke Leigh Howard at The Daily Beast, via Yahoo! News:

Anti-transgender muppets had a meltdown on social media Thursday after The Hershey Company released a new ad featuring a transgender woman for Women’s History Month.

On Wednesday, Fae Johnstone, the executive director of the Canadian social justice organization Wisdom2Action, announced that she was in a new campaign for Hershey’s Canada and featured on some of the chocolate bar’s wrappers. (Wrappers vary between her and other women involved in the campaign.)

“The chocolate's out of the wrapper!” Johnstone tweeted. “Honoured to be featured in this campaign by @Hersheys Canada for #InternationalWomensDay alongside 4 brilliant sisters and change-makers.”

According to Wisdom2Action’s website, Johnstone has an extensive background in community engagement, particularly working with trans support groups and mental health services for LGBTQ+ youth. On her Twitter profile, Johnstone proudly states she is a “queer, trans and feminist activist.”