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Culture Secretary Condemns British Pop Music Awards for Dropping Gender Categories

Culture Secretary Condemns British Pop Music Awards for Dropping Gender Categories

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries condemned a decision by a British pop music awards panel to scrap gendered categories in 2022.

Prizes at the Brits will be handed out to the artist of the year and the international artist of the year, replacing the best male and female solo artist and best international male and female solo artist.

Tom March, the Brits’ new chair and co-president of Polydor Records, said in a statement announcing the move that it felt like “the right time to celebrate the achievements of artists for the music that they create, and the work that they do, irrespective of gender.”

But the decision drew the ire of Dorries, who told a Parliamentary Committee on Monday that it was “quite a sad decision.”

“If you wanted to look at who used to win awards for novels and many things in the past, then men always dominated,” she said. “My concern would be that women weren’t fairly represented moving forward.” 

Dorries, a former nurse and reality show contestant, is echoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s instinctive style of politics. She has publicly attacked political opponents as snowflakes, a derisory term for the younger, more woke generation.

Other big music ceremonies dropped separate male and female categories much earlier, including the Grammys. Pop star Sam Smith, who identifies as non-binary and was excluded from the Brits award categories this year, was among those lobbying for the change. 

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