People on social media are applauding British reality star Ashley James for defending the use of trans-inclusive language in a now-viral rant on live TV.
James appeared on the UK daytime show This Morning, where she and former politician-turned-TV personality Gyles Brandreth were asked about British politician Penny Mordaunt's call for an end to "woke" language in official documents, in which she stated that governing bodies should avoid “gender-neutral language” in place of more “traditional” words.
Brandreth responded first, telling the table:
“I heard of a nurse at a respected London hospital who has been told that she must tell mothers to use the phrase ‘chestfeeding’ when talking to a mother about breastfeeding."
And that was enough for James.
The former Made in Chelsea star immediately countered:
“My eyes could not roll further into the back of my head if they tried because, firstly, that’s not true. That’s tabloids trying to whip up a frenzy.”
She continued, ignoring Brandreth's attempts to double down.
“I'm still breastfeeding and I gave birth in the last year. The guidance says if you're dealing with a trans person, use the term ‘chestfeeding’ — it's more inclusive."
"No one's trying to ban the word ‘breastfeeding,’ and I think this is what our government are currently doing — they’re stoking culture wars.”
“The term ‘woke’ actually does mean ‘being alert to social justice,’ and that can only be a good thing."
“Being woke is only a good thing, and I feel like this term has been weaponized — just like the term ‘snowflake.’”
She then called out those who "fear wokeness."
“Actually, it's the people who fear wokeness that seem to be the snowflakes because they're getting offended by words."
“And all it is doing is trying to attempt for society to care about and consider people's feelings, and to attempt for society to be more equal.”
James added some "harmless" examples.
“A good example of that is using the word ‘parent’ instead of ‘mom and dad,’ right? It’s pretty harmless."
“But what it means is that for my friend who's a single mom because she adopted on her own, for my friend who is a two-dad family, or my friends who are two-mom families, it's just not assuming that there's always a mom and a dad and that's all it is."
“‘Parents’ doesn't take away from the role of a mother."
“I so support the term ‘mother,’ I'm a breastfeeding mum; nobody has ever told me ‘chestfeeding.’ I’ve got trans friends, and none of them are offended.”
She finished on the topic:
“Sometimes I think the government and the media like to whip up this frenzy to make people think things are going too far, but wokeness is not the reason that we don't have affordable housing, wokeness is not the reason public services are crumbling."
"It’s just a nothing story.”
You can watch below.
Viewers of the viral video were cheering for James and her mic-drop response.
Journalist David Mack retweeted the clip, writing:
"new queen just dropped. watch how the others go from rolling their eyes at the subject matter to silently feeling mortified"
And others on social media followed suit.
James herself commented on all the attention the video has been receiving, writing on X, formerly Twitter, that using the platform to speak on the subject was a "huge privilege."
"Oh wow I’ve just seen my mentions and this has blown up. thanks everyone. It’s such a huge privilege to get to talk about these topics on @thismorning ❤️🙏"
Well done, Ashley, well done 👏👏👏
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