This Morning presenter Ashley James has responded to bullies who have targeted her son for ‘liking girl things.’
Ashley, 38, has two children with her partner, Tommy Andrews – son Alfie and daughter Ada.
The former Made in Chelsea star took to Instagram this weekend to hit back at those who have been bullying her son, describing the situation as ‘pretty depressing.’
This came in response to comments from UK Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, who suggested that boys should be allowed to wear dresses in school.
This, in turn, sparked outrage from certain parties, who took umbrage with the Labour MP’s suggestion that boys should be able to ‘experiment’ under a proposed ‘watchful approach’ to gender identity.
Reality star and TV presenter Ashley has now weighed in to the debate, offering her perspective as mother to a five-year old son.
Sharing a lengthy video on social media, Ashley shared her own thoughts on Phillipson’s words and the subsequent media outcry.
This video included a snap of son Alfie wearing a pink Tutu on top of a Woody from Toy Story costume.
‘My son is being teased for liking “girl things”, so it was pretty depressing to see grown adults lose their minds at the idea of little boys playing with skirts,’ she began in the accompanying caption.
Those who had criticised Phillipson’s comments included Jeremy Clarkson, who described her as ‘clueless’ in his column for The Sun, concluding that it was ‘classic Labourite thinking.’
Meanwhile, after asking ‘what hope do 5-year-olds have when adults are bullying children?’ Ashley went on to assert that ‘playing with skirts or dolls or liking pink doesn’t even mean anything.’
She continued: ‘But one thing I do know is that I will never be my child’s first bully, and I never want him to feel shame for being himself – whatever that may look like.’
In the video and caption, she went on to share her dismay for the state of masculinity, which she said has come to be defined by a series of ‘narrow’ rules.
‘When we tell boys not to cry, to “man up”, or that doing anything “like a girl” is embarrassing or weak, we’re teaching them that femininity is something to reject. Something beneath them,’ she continued.
After outlining statistics regarding male suicide and women who suffer domestic abuse, Ashley added: ‘[These problems] start in childhood, in the everyday messages about who is allowed to be soft, creative, emotional or playful.
‘So yes, I will defend little boys who want to wear skirts.
‘Because maybe if we raised boys who weren’t taught to fear femininity, we’d raise men who didn’t feel the need to dominate it.
‘Being “like a girl” should never have been an insult in the first place.
She signed off: ‘Girls are f**king cool.’
It was a message which resonated with Ashley’s followers, including _ohabode, who chimed in: ‘It’s JUST CLOTHING! WHO cares what they wear, if they’re happy and comfortable, that’s all that matters.’
‘Say it louder for the people at the back,’ agreed liddierowl, while jourdan_rand clapped: ‘LOUDER!!’
Describing the debate as ‘absurd,’ alfiesonline asked: ‘it’s just dye and fabric, who cares?’
Meanwhile, charlotte_injp asked: ‘Why limit clothing to a gender? All that does is limit creativity and freedom of expression.’
Phillipson had made the comments during an appearance on LBC, during which she was pressed on whether boys should be allowed to wear dresses to school.
In response, she said that schools must take a ‘watchful approach’ and work alongside parents but should allow ‘children just to consider who they are to behave in ways that might not be aligned with their sex or their gender.’
She continued: ‘So if a boy wants to wear dresses, we should just, if we allow that to work, children will experiment at different points, they will consider who they are.’
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