Kirstie Alley says use of gender neutral term ‘chestfeeding’ is ‘insanity’ and ‘degrading to women’

The 70-year-old actor says gender neutral language is ‘nullifying of women and their abilities’

(PA)

Kirsty Alley has claimed that the use of the gender neutral term “chest-feeding” is “insanity” because it is “degrading to women”.

Gender-inclusive language is being used more in hospitals to accommodate trans and gender-neutral people. New guidelines by the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine are urging the use of gender-inclusive terms such as “chestfeeding,” “parent’s milk” and “human milk feeding”.

Alley responded to the news with a Twitter thread in which she claims the terminology is “nullifying of women and their abilities.”

“BREAST-FEEDING IS what WOMEN do,” Alley wrote on Saturday. “Women also bottle feed. Men bottle feed too. We do not have to buckle to the insanity of the minuscule minority of lunatics who make us feel guilty for not sharing their insanity.

“’Chestfeeding?’ ‘human milk feeding?’ WTF STOP IT!!!”

“I’m a little tired of the degrading and nullifying of women and their abilities. Breastfeeding is one of our abilities. It’s a beautiful and important ability. Knock off the nullifying of women [for] the sake of lunatics. Equal rights does not equal insanity.”

Defending her comments, Alley added: “We all have opinions. Probably the main reason social media is so popular. Especially on our own sites. I guess it’s also inviting other opinions of our opinions but I don’t feel obligated to be ‘sweet’ when people are nasty to me about my own site opinions.

“It’s our personal responsibility to agree or disagree with concepts. My only point here today is don’t let insanity force you to pretend like you agree with the insanity. It’s part of the insanity to shame you into agreement.”

Responding to a follower who said “no one asked you to speak for cis women’s breasts or bodies in general”, Alley said : “I don’t need to speak for ‘cis’ women. I am a woman and feel comfortable just calling myself a woman and having a woman’s point of view. I don’t need to be ASKED to speak Deb. We handled that pretty well in 1920.”