Huge roars could be heard in Bristol’s city center today as a bunch of nude cyclists rode straight past two rival protest groups and defused a highly polarizing civil rights exhibition.
Dozens of boisterous cyclists were taking part in the World Naked Bike Ride, an annual event aimed at raising awareness of environmental issues, safety cycling, and body positivity.
They set off around 12.30pm from the Full Moon pub near Cabot Circus, but their planned route brought them right past College Green, which proved to be the scene of a heated standoff between two opposing groups of demonstrators.
According to BristolLive, roughly 60 members of the women’s rights group Standing for Women were staging a demonstration when around 100 members of the trans rights group Bristol Against Hate staged a counter-rally.
Despite the absence of violence on College Green, the originally calm mood became increasingly tense as the Bristol Against Hate contingent was accused of harboring ‘transphobic’ sentiments.
The enthusiastic spectators erupted in applause and excitement as swarms of motorcycles dressed in nothing but their birthday suits whizzed by, drawing roars of support and delight.
Since 2004, the World Naked Bike Ride has taken place every year, with the exception of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The yearly event was created to advocate for environmental sustainability and improved safety conditions for bicycles in congested cities.
However, it has subsequently evolved to support a range of themes such as body acceptance, inclusivity, and personal independence.
To commemorate the event, naked cyclists take to the streets of around 200 cities throughout the world, including London, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Vienna, Sao Paolo, Vancouver, Copenhagen, Paris, Thessaloniki, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo.
Prior to the arrival of the naked bikers in Bristol, women’s and trans rights organizations were engaged in a yelling match to promote their respective agendas.
‘Women are a group defined as a “sex” under the Equalities Act 2010, and our rights are being demeaned despite being protected under the Equalities Act at the moment,’ a protester supporting the Standing for Women protest said.
‘We are speaking out for those women who are being incarcerated with men in women’s prisons, women who are being forced to compete against men in women’s sport, which is ultimately going to lead to the destruction of women’s sport, women who are no longer having a right to be counselled by a female adviser in a rape crisis centre… and women who are not having the right to a women-only space in domestic violence refuges as well.
‘We think that is a serious attack on women’s rights.’
Members of Standing For Women, on the other hand, claimed that balaclava-clad trans rights activists arrived on the scene yelling “trans rights are human rights” and chanting slogans in protest of TERFs, an acronym that stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist, i.e., feminists who are gender critical.
Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, the founder of Standing for Women, made news in 2018 when she constructed a billboard in Liverpool that defined a ‘woman’ as a ‘adult human female.’
Dr. Adrian Harrop, who is not transgender, protested to billboard company Primesight that the banner would make transgender women feel frightened.
When Kellie-Jay went on This Morning to defend the billboard and her ideas in a debate with transgender campaigner India Willoughby, who transitioned three years ago, she received both praise and criticism.