Actress Kirstie Alley slammed so-called trans “inclusive” terminology like “chest-feeding” over the weekend, claiming it degrades and nullifies women.
The “Cheers” star first broached the subject on Twitter Saturday morning, with a post that said, “BREAST-FEEDING IS what WOMEN do. 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. ‘Chest feeding?’ ‘human milk feeding?’ WTF STOP IT!!!”
It was unclear what sparked Alley’s comment, but last week, as The Daily Wire reported, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine published new guidelines on “lactation-related language.” Among the organization’s recommendations is replacing the verb breastfeeding with gender-neutral terms like “human milk feeding” and “chest-feeding” because, they claim, “not all people who give birth and lactate identify as female.”
While the vast majority of responses to Alley, including nearly 16,000 likes, expressed agreement, she seemed to address the comparatively few critical replies about 15 minutes later.
“I’m a little tired of the degrading and nullifying of women and their abilities,” she explained further. “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.” A few minutes after that, she added, “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.”
In her final post on Saturday, Alley denied that her support for former President Trump had any impact on her beliefs about the issue of trans terminology, saying, “My views of this BS are not political. I have plenty of friends from both political persuasions who SHARE the view of the INSANITIES being shoved down our throats by pervs trying to degrade our society. Don’t be afraid to disagree with people who seek to pervert workable morals.”
The following day, Alley addressed another detractor.
“I don’t need to speak for ‘cis’ women,” she said to a critic who argued that Alley doesn’t speak for “cis women’s breasts or bodies.” She went on, “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.”
In Alley’s final word on the subject Sunday, she shared that she prefers terms that acknowledge her own womanhood. “For the record I don’t care what people call themselves or categorize their identity. Just leave mine alone,” she said. “I’m happy with woman, mother, actress, sister, daughter, grandma and [girlie] …”