My Sting interview farce shows how entrenched trans ideology has become - Hadley Freeman

[IwantToRetire]

Lessons come from all sorts of unlikely sources. Some people learn them from inspirational quotes on Instagram or from online influencers. I recently learnt one from a pop star you might have heard of called Sting. Not long ago I was commissioned to interview Sting for a freelance job. But then I was told I was being replaced by another writer — not because of a problem with my work, but because of my “controversial views about gender”. Never mind that it hadn’t even occurred to me to talk about gender theory with Sting (music, I thought, seemed a more obvious topic for conversation). I was out.

In Sting’s defence, I have no idea if this decision was made by him. It may have been decided by the phalanx of PRs around him, or perhaps by the person who commissioned me, who belatedly realised they’d hired someone worse than a murderous despot. If so, it would not be the first time I’ve lost work because I believe in material reality or, as the current terminology has it, am “gender-critical”. There was the PR who wouldn’t work with me on a project because, she explained, “What if my baby grows up to be trans and finds out I helped you?” There was the allegedly mouthy and fearless pop star who refused to be interviewed because I am too “controversial”. They always say they don’t want to be “dragged into the controversy”, apparently unaware that they are dragging themselves into it by tacitly endorsing censorship of those who disagree with gender ideology.

Not only finding out about something so absurd (and yes I dont under estimate the impact of women's employment) and her writing really cheered me up with all the bad news and the depressing weather.

And she finishes with this:

But I’ve learnt that it’s actually quite useful when someone says they can’t be associated with me, because life is too short to waste on cowards. And when those cowards U-turn like Starmer, women like me will welcome them. But we won’t forget.

@HadleyFreeman

Sunday Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/my-sting-interview-farce-shows-how-entrenched-trans-ideology-has-become-djwsftgph

Also available via https://archive.ph

this leapt out at me

boiled alive? what the fuck Sting? guess that guy's money is as good as any other, right?

I was thinking just this!

'Says a lot about modern parenting - terrified of their child’s disapproval even when they’re pre-verbal!'

Absolutely. What a complete state 🤦🏻‍♂️

Good on Hadley for making this public. She's right to say that it may have been a trendy PR person rather than Sting himself who took the decision, although it sounds like he has form for gender woo nonsense so who knows

When you have several hundred million pounds, obviously you just can't say no to earning another 1 million or so. I guess 6 children are expensive to keep.

If you want a wry laugh I'd recommend reading Sting's statements from 2010 attempting to justify his decision.

Great post.

"I played in Uzbekistan a few months ago," he begins. "The concert was organized by the president's daughter and I believe sponsored by Unicef."

You can believe it all you like, Sting, but it's absolute cobblers - Lost in Showbiz has checked it out with Unicef, who tactfully describe themselves as "quite surprised" by your claim.

More here:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2010/feb/22/sting-uzbekistan

Each time I read something written by Hadley, I fall in love with her a little bit more!

On point as ever. She is my girl crush.

Sumner is just gender critical and has not had enough life experience to realise it. You have to identify very strongly with gender labels to be a TW. You also have to think women are less important than men to believe that TWAW.

I'm glad to hear this- watched Stewart Copelend in a drumming doc recently and he seemed so down to earth with a distinct lack of popstar ego

One of the few people to tell Sting he can be an arrogant cunt at times.

I have to confess that if it weren't for Sting, I probably wouldn't have read Koestler or Jung. Certain not until I was much later.

Still amused he got away with a song celebrating Nabakov though.

glad to hear SC put Sting in his place, @SerendipityJane !

“What if my baby grows up and realises I helped children mutilate themselves and take life changing destructive decisions?”

Good for you, Hadley ✋

Just a reminder as this article is too good to be missed, that share tokens expire.

So as said in the OP you can go to archive.ph and read a copy there. You just need the original articel link.

I was tempted to use the reference to Stammer as the title, but the paragraphs about Sting are so wonderful, and as said up thread, makes the Guardian look like a complete muppet for ever letting her leave.

Each paragraph is worth picking out, but loved the way she seemed to be being quite light and humerous, and then goes for the jugular.

In short, will we see an end to the ideological capture that has made so many women fearful of speaking out against this appallingly misogynistic movement, which defends putting rapists in female prisons because they claim to identify as a woman? Politicians, as Starmer demonstrates, change their views like the wind changes direction.

But the inherent anti-feminism of gender ideology has become so baked in to so many institutions that the American trans writer Andrea Long Chu can write that the “barest essentials [of] femaleness” are “an open mouth, an expectant asshole, blank, blank eyes”, and be feted to the point of winning a Pulitzer prize this year.

JK Rowling, on the other hand, writes: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe,” and she is derided as a hateful bigot, her books removed from schools and libraries.

Sting's daughter is "gender fluid".

The Ideology seems to have a particular appeal among the idle rich.

Perhaps it serves to deflect from their privilege and wealth.

It's fascinating to speculate on what Oscar Wilde would have done to them ...

This is brilliant. I mean, on balance it doesn't seem to take much for us women to be branded unspeakable witches.

Come on Sting, 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You'.

What was the Groucho Marx quotation?

I have my principles and if you don't don't like them..... Well I have others.