Cancel culture? I'm not to blame, says Sturgeon in wake of Fringe venue Forbes ban
She also refused to apologise to the women vilified for opposing her botched gender reforms.
The Scottish Tories accused Ms Sturgeon of being 'delusional' for not accepting she had fuelled a cancel culture by branding her critics intolerant and bigoted.
Her 'obsession with gender ideology and intolerance towards women's groups poured fuel on the fire', the party said.
During the official launch of her memoir, Frankly, at the Edinburgh book festival, she said:
The world is 'literally' her oyster and she may move abroad
It could be another 10 years before SNP policies have an effect
She received cruel messages about rape and her miscarriage online
Summerhall Arts venue this week caused outrage after indicating Kate Forbes won't be allowed back because of her views on trans issues.
The Scottish Daily Mail revealed how bosses apologised to performers after the Deputy First Minister appeared at a Fringe event last week.
Some artists set up a 'safe room', claiming to be 'terrified' by the 5ft 2in MSP.
The venue said booking Ms Forbes, who has criticised gender reforms and backs single-sex spaces for biological women, was an 'oversight' they would prevent 'happening again'.
It led to calls for a recent award of £608,000 of public funding to be withdrawn.
After appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday, Ms Sturgeon, who now admits she should have 'paused' her gender reforms, was asked about the ban.
She said: 'I don't agree with cancel culture and I don't agree with that.'
The Book Festival has been criticised for failing to include gender critical writers, including the authors of the best-selling essay collection The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht.
While the National Library of Scotland has been accused of 'cowardice' for pulling the book from a major exhibition after staff complained about it promoting 'hate speech'.
Asked if she bore responsibility for the 'censorious atmosphere', Ms Sturgeon said: 'No, I don't.'
Pressed on whether she would say sorry to people who felt vilified for their gender-critical views, she said: 'No, I won't apologise. People on both sides of this debate are vilified. I've been vilified and received some awful abuse - nothing like the abuse trans people are getting right now.
'I tried to stand up for rights of one of most stigmatised minorities in the country. I don't believe that is in conflict with the rights of women which I have stood up for and will continue to stand up for.'
She added: 'As a frontline politician for three decades, I am not without responsibility for the state of public discourse. I've got to take my share of collective responsibility.
'But I think we've also all got to just stop shouting abuse at each other and take a step back and try to find out a way of find a way of agreeing and disagreeing.'
Conservative MSP Roz McCall said: 'It's frankly shameful that Nicola Sturgeon still refuses to apologise to women and girls for putting them in harm's way.
'For years she arrogantly dismissed their valid concerns, vilified them, and sacrificed their rights to appease extremist gender activists.
'Across Scotland, public bodies are still unpicking the chaos caused by her botched gender reforms - yet Nicola Sturgeon and her partner in crime John Swinney refuse to admit they were wrong.
'We saw that this week at the Fringe and it's delusional for her to deny that this cancel culture doesn't stem from the gender policies she pushed.
'Vile abuse on either side of this debate is completely unacceptable, but it's impossible to deny that Nicola Sturgeon's obsession with gender ideology and intolerance towards women's groups poured fuel on the fire.'
The ex FM also revealed she received a rape threat and vile comments about her miscarriage after the release of her memoir.
She said: 'These are people who call themselves feminists, standing up for women's rights, saying things about me, such as when I described my miscarriage experience the other day, 'I haven't laughed as much in years', accusing me of making it up, people saying they hope I'm raped in a toilet. These are the kind of things that go in both directions.'
Earlier, on stage with broadcaster Kirsty Wark to discuss her memoir Frankly, Ms Sturgeon was cheered by fans for taking a swipe at Joanna Cherry, KC.
The former SNP MP, who was ostracised by party colleagues for opposing gender reforms, said this week Ms Sturgeon was 'Stalinist' in how she ran the SNP.
Ms Sturgeon said: 'There are certain people in this world who spend a lot more time thinking about me than I spend thinking about them.'
She also admitted her flagship pledge to close the attainment gap in schools could take twice as long to deliver as she promised.
She vowed in 2016 to end the gulf in exam results between rich and poor areas in a decade.
But she suggested yesterday it could be another 10 years before SNP policies had an effect - as she hadn't realised tackling poverty was needed to address the poverty-related problem.
She said: 'Unless you're changing the conditions kids are growing up in, then you're not going to have the impact, and that's what I learned along the way.
'Some of the things that I am proudest of are the Scottish Child Payment, the doubling of early years education, the baby box. These are things that are lifting children out of poverty, and I believe in time will make a difference.'
Ms Wark replied incredulously: 'In time? That was ten years ago. That gap has not been closed. 'In time' is leaving a whole generation of children without that.'
Ms Sturgeon: 'It will take longer than I appreciated or allowed myself to appreciate at the time, and that was my mistake. But it will work through the system.
'I absolutely believe that things like Scottish Child Payment, if we're looking back 10 years from now, the benefits of that in school attainment, in the attainment gap, will be seen.'
Scottish Tory education spokesman Miles Briggs said: 'Nicola Sturgeon claimed that education was her top priority, but her record was disastrous - and now she says it will be another decade before progress is made on the flagship promise she made 10 years ago.
'It would be laughable if it wasn't so serious for the young people she has let down.'
Asked why there was so little in her memoir about Scotland's drugs deaths crisis on her watch and if she owed the public an explanation, Ms Sturgeon said: 'It's for the public to read my book and make up their minds about that and other issues.'
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