said so much and barely needed to open his moth after Gyles Brandreth’s comments on pansexuality during .
On Monday’s episode, Phil and were discussing the latest news with Gyles and Camilla Tominey when their conversation turning to the Girl Guides’ new glossary of terms regarding gender and sexuality.
As well as joking that ‘aromantic’ – having no interest in or desire for romantic relationships – meant you smell nice, the former politician also made a joke about pansexuality, which is defined in the glossary as ‘attraction for members of all gender identities/expressions’
Revealing an exchange they had off camera, Camilla turned to Gyles and laughed: ‘You said pansexual is having sex with kitchen equipment. We realised it wasn’t… Where is the offence actually taken? Who’s going to write into the Girl Guides?’
Phil quickly interjected: ‘Quite a number of pansexual people who might very well be offended right now.’
‘We’re very inclusive. We LOVE pansexual people,’ Gyles responded, but Phil’s dead pan look to the camera made it clear he wasn’t impressed with the way the discussion was going.
The presenter also pointed to the term maiden name and noted ‘maiden is a very old fashioned term’, although Camilla fired back at the glossary and questioned its necessity.
Branding it a matter of ‘nonsensical judgements’ and ‘drama’, she also called for older people to be involved in the conversation.
She argued: ‘If there’s some words which a small section of society finds offensive but the rest of us all understand it’s common parlance and that no offense is intended, it shouldn’t therefore be deemed an offensive word.’
However, Gyles admitted language does change over times and people should strive to be ‘kind’ and ‘inclusive’, as he pointed out the benefits of using ‘more contemporary terms’
He said: ‘Language evolves, and we want to be inclusive, we want to be kind, we want to be generous. The intention here is good.
‘I think possibly the people who are now the Woke Police have picked up on this, which was a well-meaning way of encouraging people who are running the Guides and the Cubs to use language that is more contemporary and more comfortable for everybody.’
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV.
