In a statement, she defended the use of the hashtag as an "in-joke" but recognised it could be "alienating" and "troubling" to some.

She said:

Regarding my use of hashtags: these were done on my personal account, which is separate to my work account.



However, I still recognise and understand how this can be alienating and troubling to some.



These are in-­jokes and ways that many people in the queer feminist community express ourselves­ it's a way of reclaiming the power from the trauma many of us experience as queers, women, people of colour, who are on the receiving end of racism, misogyny and homophobia daily.

The posts have since been deleted from Facebook and Twitter.