This Morning guest destroys haters of ‘woke’ language in less than two minutes
Ashley James passionately explained why being woke can “only be a good thing” while appearing on ITV’s This Morning. (ITV)
Broadcaster Ashley James has been praised for the “eloquent” way she shut down people who take issue with the word “woke”, during an appearance on ITV’s This Morning.
In the segment, host Cat Deeley spoke about reports that House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt told Whitehall officials to stop using “woke language”.
Former Tory MP Gyles Brandreth, who was a guest on the show, chipped in, saying he “heard of a nurse at a respected London hospital” who was told to use the word chest-feeding when “talking to a mother about breast-feeding”.
James was having none of it, saying her eyes “couldn’t roll further into the back of [her] head if they tried”, and blamed the tabloids for “trying to whip up a frenzy”.
She continued: “The guidance says if you’re dealing with a trans person, use the term ‘chest-feeding’. It’s more inclusive.
“No one’s trying to ban the word ‘breast-feeding’… our government [is] stoking culture wars. The term ‘woke’ actually [means] being alert to social injustice – that can only be a good thing.
“Bear in mind, we know that parliament has currently [more than] 50 MPs under investigation for sexual harassment, they would benefit from wokeness.
“We need more female MPs. We need more disabled MPs. We need more Black and brown MPs.
“So being woke is only a good thing, and I feel this term has been weaponised just like the term ‘snowflake’.”
Reaching a crescendo, she declared: “Actually, it’s the people who fear wokeness that seem to be the snowflakes, because they’re getting offended by words.
“All it is doing is trying to tempt society to care about and consider people’s feelings and to attempt to [make it] more equal.”
James then gave examples another so-called woke move: to use the word “parent” instead of mum and dad. She said it’s “pretty harmless” to switch terminology, but, in the long run, it is more inclusive of different familial structures, including single-parent households and queer parents.
“It’s just not assuming that there’s always a mum and a dad, and that’s all it is,” she said.
“It doesn’t take away from the role of the mother. I so support the term ‘mother’. I’m a breast-feeding mum. Nobody has ever told me ‘chest-feeding’.
“I’ve got trans friends, and none of them are offended. 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 we don’t have affordable housing. Wokeness is not the reason public services are crumbling.
“It’s just a nothing story.”
Social media users appear to love James’ intervention.
Several people on Instagram praised her “eloquence, balance and engagement” in her “strong, measured and rational response”. One suggested: “Ashley for prime minister.”
Over on X/Twitter, a person described the two-minute clip as “allyship in action”, while Drag Race UK star Divina De Campo wrote: “If you’re even slightly confused about ‘woke’, watch this.”
In a follow-up post on Instagram, James blasted the government, “backed up” by right-wing media, for “resorting to culture wars to try [to] blame their incompetence on anyone but themselves”.
She said they scapegoat “the woke” when the government can’t blame “people on benefits”, “immigrants” or “those with mental-health problems”, adding: “The Tories have been in power for so long they can’t blame anyone else but themselves.
“Now they’re trying to make people worry about what might happen if wokeness takes over from the left.”
