Male students at Girton College were asked not to use the gym for one hour a week

Cambridge University students are embroiled in a gender identity row over a poster that asked men to keep out of a gym and swimming pool once a week, reserving it for women and non-binary people.

The posters at Girton College advertised one hour set aside each Wednesday from 7pm until 8pm, suggesting that men “please be respectful and do not come in”.

The posters were defaced, with “women/non-binary” crossed out and replaced with the word “everyone”. Non-binary is a catch-all category for gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine.

Protesters may have been pointing out that under the convention for self-identification, anyone could claim to be a woman or non-binary and use the gym. However, they may also have been men who wanted