Non-binary model Rain Dove was sprayed in the face with mace for using a women’s bathroom in the United States.

Dove, who is in a relationship with Rose McGowan, was contacted by the attacker after the incident and posted screenshots of their exchange on Instagram to educate others about being gender-fluid.

“This person pepper sprayed me in a ‘women’s rest room’ a little bit ago,” Dove wrote on Instagram in the caption section.

“I didn’t get to converse with this being because this person just sprayed me and ran past with their kids in terror, asking the security guard to come in and confront me.

“It happens moderately often especially while traveling that people get scared or volatile when I go into the rest room so I just shrugged it off and continued life. Then suddenly out of the blue this person contacted me again. We had a conversation and here’s how it went.”

The attacker, who was not identified, initially told Dove that they were not sorry for their actions.

“I am the mother that maced you in the ladies room last week and I would do it again,” she messaged to Dove.

“I hope that pepper-spray burned the f**k out of you. I think it’s sick that you go into ladies rooms … Go to the 1 your ID says to!

“Keep your nastie d**k away from us!”

Dove responded by sending the person a photo of their passport which lists their sex as female.

The woman who sprayed the mace said she assumed Dove was male because the model was tall with a “really manly” face.

In an extraordinary display of forgiveness, Dove then praised and forgave the person for spraying mace.

“What I wanted to say to you before you left so quickly was that while you hurt me I’m (sic) still admire your bravery,” Dove wrote.

“You were protecting yourself and your children against what you believed to be a tall cis man coming into the rest room.

“With many warnings growing up about getting hurt or even raped in the bathroom by deviant men it’s easy to be brainwashed into thinking that anyone that is what society seems to be a penis bearer will have negative or sexual intentions when in an intimate space.

“You did what you thought was right in the moment and that takes courage,” Dove wrote.

The attacker apologised to Dove and said, “I don’t get this trans stuff”.

“What if next time it definitely is a man in the ladies room?” the woman asked. “How do I balance being fair and not judging with protecting myself and my kids?”

Dove encouraged the mother to judge people as individuals rather than male or female.

“If a person is advancing on you, using inappropriate or threatening language, or brandishing their genitalia in a way that is not aimed at a toilet … then act in a sensible way that’s self protective. Otherwise, who cares if someone with the opposite genitals is in the room with you,” Dove wrote.

The mother told Dove she felt “dumb” but added, “I still don’t like trans people in the bathroom but I won’t mace anyone next time.”

In the post, Dove wrote that they and a trans friend have a Skype conversation booked with the mother to help educate her even more.