UK Police forces have been contacting parents and members of the public expressing concerns over the appointment of a biological male with a disturbing social media history to a senior position within the UK Girl Guides Franchise.
Monica Sulley, a male who identifies as a woman, became the lead Commissioner for the Southwell division of Girl Guides UK, known there as Girlguiding, in July of 2021 but came to widespread attention later on in the year.
Sulley’s appointment came on the heels of a female Girlguiding leader being expelled from the organization on the basis of her belief that girls should not be forced to shower or share tents with males who identify as women. Helen Watts had been a supporting member of the Guides for over 15 years prior to being sacked due to her views.
Women’s rights-concerned users on social media have expressed upset over Sulley’s appointment since it came to widespread public scrutiny in November of 2021, with some noting that Sulley was taking a position from an actual woman.
But sleuths quickly uncovered some disturbing posts Sulley has made on his social media accounts – including him posing with weapons, and him dressed in bondage gear, captioning himself “Mistress.”
Girlguiding introduced a pro-trans policy in 2018, and immediately received backlash from members of the public who had child safeguarding concerns.
While Girlguiding framed their policies as being directed towards including and supporting children, they tip-toed around the fact they were also allowing adult males who identified as women to take leadership positions within the organization in proximity to and control over the youth.
News of Sulley’s appointment has been met with backlash from women’s rights activists and netizens concerned over his inappropriate online behavior as well as his motivations for being involved in the organization.
One user said “Why would you be so insensitive towards women and girls that you would do this? I’ve managed my whole life without being involved with guiding and I’m a woman, it’s hardly traumatic to not be involved.”
Another user suggested that the message it was sending to young women was possibly harmful, and that it simply demonstrated males would be readily able to gain leadership over females in exclusive spaces simply by identifying as women.
Now, a slew of complaints have begun cropping up on Twitter from users reporting Police have been contacting those who had expressed outrage at Sulley’s appointment, or raised concerns for the safety of children in the Girlguiding franchise.
On January 19, Labour Councillor Nina Killen posted to Twitter that a friend of hers had been threatened with arrest by police, and had been forced to attend a questioning. This followed her writing a letter to Girlguiding with safeguarding concerns.
The user, @MDayCassandra, called on others to share similar experiences if they had them — and multiple users replied to her post noting they were aware of other incidents where people had also been subject to Police contact for writing to Girlguiding with complaints.
The consistent nature of the comments would suggest that the Nottinghamshire branch of Girlguiding, where Sulley is retained as a leader, may be reporting comments received on his appointment to the Police.
Reduxx has reached out to the branch to request comment or confirmation on whether they have been forwarding complaints to law enforcement, but did not receive a response.
