TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has come under fire for her controversial advice to young women, saying they should forget university and concentrate on having babies first.
The 42 year old, who has two sons and two step-sons, said society has “not been honest enough with women” about fertility, saying it “falls off a cliff when you’re 35”.
When asked what advice she would give to a daughter, she said:
“Start work straight after school, stay at home, save up your deposit – I’ll help you, let’s get you into a flat. And then we can find you a nice boyfriend and you can have a baby by the time you’re 27.”
The Location, Location, Location presenter told The Telegraph:
“We should talk openly about university and whether going when you’re young, when we live so much longer, is really the way forward. At the moment, women have 15 years to go to university, get their career on track, try and buy a home, and have a baby. That is a hell of a lot to ask someone. As a passionate feminist, I feel we have not been honest enough with women about this issue.”
After coming under fire for her views, Allsopp went onto Twitter to defend her claims:
Before a whole lot of Mumsnetters go bat shit crazy please remember the point I’m making “Question choices & understand limits on fertility”
— Kirstie Mary Allsopp (@KirstieMAllsopp) June 2, 2014
I am NOT questioning anyone’s choices, all I’m saying is women must have this debate & include young men in it, nature is not a feminist.
— Kirstie Mary Allsopp (@KirstieMAllsopp) June 2, 2014
It seems she has some medical support with Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies’ Dr.Christian Jessen reiterating her views:
In her @Telegraph piece @KirstieMAllsopp writes nothing but sense and medical truth. Try reading her actually words, not media distortion!
— Dr Christian Jessen (@DoctorChristian) June 3, 2014
The article, which originally started out as warnings against infertility sparked rage from a number of media outlets, with school groups in the UK denouncing Allsopp for her ‘1950s views’.
