Sting says toxic masculinity may be caused by men not using their hands enough: ‘We’ve lost something there’

Key Points

• Sting says “modern men” have lost something by working less and less with their hands.

• “Maybe the toxicity in society at the moment is [a result of the fact] that we’ve lost that direction for our energy, that male strength,” the musician told The Guardian.

• Sting is preparing to premiere his manual labor–focused musical The Last Ship on London’s West End.

As Sting once sang — if you love somebody, make sure their workplace is OSHA compliant.

As he readies his manual labor–focused, shipyard-set musical The Last Ship for its premiere on London’s West End, the English rocker has begun to see an association between the rise of so-called “toxic masculinity” and the decline of physical jobs for men.

“I work with my hands every day as a musician, and I’m lucky. It’s a rare thing for modern men to actually use their hands and use their strengths to do anything. We’ve lost something there,” the musician born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner told The Guardian on Thursday.

“I don’t have any answers, but maybe the toxicity in society at the moment is [a result of the fact] that we’ve lost that direction for our energy, that male strength,” Sting continued. “It’s rare we have to use it.”

Indeed, since the Industrial Revolution, there has been a steady decline in jobs based on manual labor for both men and women. From 1979 to 2019 alone, the manufacturing sector in the U.S. saw a 35 percent decline. With the rise of smart, portable, and social technology, even hobbies that involve manual engagement are less common, leading to a revival of old-school pastimes among a rising tide of young people.

It’s these trends that Sting connects to the emergence of a brand of male social performance labeled “toxic masculinity,” which has been correlated to traits like narcissism, the holding of sexist and prejudicial views, and a tendency toward displays of dominance.

“Britain’s wealth was created in the coalfields and the steel towns and the mill towns and the shipyards… All of those skill sets were thrown on the scrapheap [for] Thatcher’s dream of a service economy,” Sting remarked, referring to the controversial British Prime Minister who was infamously antagonistic toward labor rights.

Relating these concerns back to The Last Ship, which chronicles the final days of a shipyard in Sting’s native Wallsend, in the north of England, the musician asked, “For what are we men without a ship to complete”

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Lest accusations form that Sting not practice what he preaches, the dad of six has already laid the plans for his kids to learn the value of hard work. “The worst thing you can do to a kid is to say, ‘You don’t have to work.’ I think that’s a form of abuse that I hope I’m never guilty of,” he revealed earlier this month. “All of my kids have been blessed with this extraordinary work ethic, whether it’s the DNA of it or whether I’ve said to them, ‘Guys, you got to work. I’m spending our money. I’m paying for your education. You’ve got shoes on your feet — go, get to work.'”

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly