Tracey Wise, London, UK, SSH Blog Correspondent
It’s 1991, and Courtney Love, performing with ‘Hole,’ stage dives in Glasgow. It’s 1991 and Love stage dives and is violated by the crowd. It’s 1991 and I am 10.
It’s 2015 and Iggy Azalea gives an interview saying she had to stop crowd surfing because “Fans think it’s funny to finger her.” It’s 2015 and I am 34. In 24 years it appears nothing has changed.
Fandom, proper, all consuming fandom that devours your being and speaks to your soul, whether that be sport, cult TV or music, takes effort. My friends and I have repeatedly travelled the British Isles to see “one more gig” by that special artist – the ones that make life complete. Safe to say I don’t just like music, I am obsessed with it. So when the thing I love comes to represent something seedy, it breaks my heart.
Over the years I have been doing that “one more gig” or spending some of the best days of my life in a muddy field, at a festival. I have more than my fair share of harassment stories. I have been groped on more than one occasion, cornered, cat called, told by a male security guard – someone employed with the purpose of keeping festival goers safe – that the theft of my tent was nothing to worry about because “I could always sleep in his tent”. So fast forward to June 2015, I’m watching my favourite band play a career-defining gig and I‘m groped again by a complete stranger, no small talk first or even an introduction. A two handed full on grab, passed off as acceptable because “it’s the last song.” I’ve now finally had enough.
A blog written in haste the next day provokes a huge response – women telling me similar stories, and worse. Stories telling of how worryingly common harassment is happening in the background of dark, sweaty, packed-in music crowds. Some women tell of multiple experiences. Some tell of how this has impacted their own behaviour, like choosing to not go on their own to gigs or even not going at all. The music obsessive in me hates this. How can the thing I love be reduced to this?
In response, I established the ‘Safe Gigs for Women’ Twitter account, as a way for women to share their stories in an anonymous way, in order to highlight the harassment being experienced by women at gigs. This has been picked up on by a local authority in London that is well known for its music scene. Together we will be looking at improving the gig going experience with venues, gig goers and bands, in order to ensure all people, male and female get to enjoy live music, for the enjoyable, beautiful thing that it is.
You can join us! Please find us at www.sgfw.org.uk.
Born and raised in London, Tracey is a graduate of City University. She has spent the best part of her life at gigs and festivals and obsessing about music and created the “Safe Gigs for Women” project.
