Wrapped in virtue and enforced by fear

Chilling findings in a new survey by Freedom in the Arts

There are now more than 1500 signatures of creative industry professionals on the open letter pledging solidarity with ‘trans, non-binary and intersex’ people, condemning the Supreme Court’s clarification that sex in the Equality Act means biological sex.

As Professor Jo Phoenix said at the launch of the Freedom in the Arts survey: ‘This thinking is now so entrenched that it has become a moral virtue to break the law’.

Freedom in the Arts was founded by two ‘cancelled’ creative professionals - dancer and choreographer Rosie Kay (this was the BBC’s shocking take), and Denise Fahmy, who felt forced to resign from Arts Council England. It’s just-published survey of almost 500 respondents working across the arts and cultural sector tells a heart-breaking story of censorship and ‘self-censorship’. The number of responses for the type of survey is huge, says Professor Phoenix - an indicator in itself of frustration at being unable to speak freely, and leaping on the opportunity to do so.

The analysis found that 82 per cent of those surveyed believe that those who share controversial opinions risk professional ostracism. 61 per cent have felt ‘pressurised, intimidated, harassed, coerced, trolled or bullied’ in reaction to their creative activities, and 80 per cent felt intimidated, coerced and bullied for actually speaking out about issues affecting the arts sector. Only nine per cent always feel free to speak publicly about their opinions. Just five per cent say personal views and opinions are met with respect within the sector.

‘There should be a rich and diverse culture of expression in the arts, but instead we have a culture of conformity - a devastated ecosystem,’ says Prof Phoenix. ‘Self-censorship isn’t really any such thing. It’s not something you do to yourself. It’s enforced by an extraordinary culture of bullying.’

She speaks of a poet who would not only no longer write about ‘forbidden’ topics, he would no longer allow himself to think ‘forbidden’ thoughts. ‘That’s a body of work we will never see, that’s been lost’.

Journalist and cultural historian Kate Maltby warns of the ‘division of tribes’ and the hard edges of polarisaion. ‘This research makes concrete the things that I’ve heard off the record for years.

‘When it comes to single sex spaces, we’re looking at venues whose stakeholders are so captured that it is less dangerous for them to flout the law than to challenge groupthink.’

Two days ago Victoria Smith pointed to the Orwellian concept of ‘Crimestop’ - reborn for the age of ‘gender identity’ in those people for whom even absolute truths - like ‘you can’t have an opposite sex brain’ - represent a territory which they cannot allow their minds to explore.

Stolid, unbending, invulnerable to cogent argument, to examples, to logic, these are the people enforcing strict rules around permissible discourse - on a range of subjects including gender, critical race theory, Israel and the Palestinians, immigration - even, still, Brexit. ‘They’re’ too dangerous to talk about. It’s damning,’ says Jo Phoenix.

This is mirrored in the media. Interestingly - it’s becoming less obvious among journalists - but as they become more enquiring, Crimestop has become more entrenched in media middle management. The ‘content executives’, the ‘digital leads’, ‘people experience managers’, ‘diversity commissioning officers’ and ‘inclusion production teams’. As in the arts sector, there is a bloc of complacency.

The truly remarkable Rosie Kay warned: ‘We’re losing the lifeblood of artistic working, and watching a chilling consensus creep in, wrapped in virtue and enforced by fear’.

FITA is not just warning, they’re fighting back. There will be more events, Toby Young talked about support from Free Speech Union for ‘cancelled’ artists, and the plan is to start commissioning ‘the work that would otherwise be unseen. We will work with the bravest of artists,’ says Rosie.

In this sense, journalists have been more fortunate. They expansion of digital platforms means they’ve already been able to work from a smaller commissioning base while their stories get visibility and traction, and eventually find their way into legacy media. In journalism, on sex and gender in particular, the direction of travel has been one way for some time.

Those in the arts sector will have watched with a particular dismay the signatures on that open letter rise. The longer the letter, the more the refuseniks stand out. You don’t even have to speak out for sex-based rights any more to be ostracised - the simple non-act of not signing a letter condemning them could put you under suspicion. Agents will have been emailing and phoning furiously. Hurrah those brave souls who refuse.

And it will have real world impacts: resistance and confusion will lead to a delay in the practical implementation of the Equality Act 2010, so more legal suits will have to be brought, each one involving an individual whose life will have been upended and traumatised.

FITA see this report as marking the start of a shift in direction. The new orthodoxy isn’t sustainable. It will take time, but conformist thinking is moving outwards into middle-age like a ring in a tree trunk. Gens A and Z, the next cohorts to be brave enough to choose creativity as a career, will be different - they already are. FITA hope their survey will embolden more people to speak up, in the new knowledge that they’re not alone, and there are hundreds who feel the same way.