Sexual harassment at gigs has been a
problem for decades but now the problem finally has a voice. I spoke to Girls
Against and The Leadmill in Sheffield to investigate why this age old problem
has finally been brought into the mainstream.
If
you’re a fan of indie music it’s been almost impossible not to notice a number
of the genres biggest bands speak about the same problem over social media in
recent months.
Spector,
Swim Deep and Foals have all spoken about the topic; Drenge have claimed that
it makes them want to “stop playing gigs”, Slaves warned perpetrators that they
“weren’t welcome at their shows” and Peace frontman Harry Koisser stated “If
you think this is ok, then please don’t come [to shows]”.
The topic that has garnered such a strong response from a number of different artists is one that’s existed at gigs for many years; groping.
You might think it’s pretty strange for this new breed of artists to raise awareness of such a longstanding problem but it’s all down to a campaign set up by a group of five teenage girls.
 |
| Girls Against logo |
“Many
others began to share their experiences, forcing us to acknowledge how
widespread the problem is hence leaving us compelled to do something about it.”
 |
| Girls Against: Hannah, Ava, Bea, Anni and Anna |
Since starting the group, the girls have
been giving away badges at gigs in London and Scotland, where the group are
based, and have set up a crowd funder page in order to produce other items of
merchandise to raise awareness. So far the page has surpassed its target of
£500 and raised £655.
In
terms of what to do if someone finds themselves a victim of sexual harassment
at a gig, Hannah explains the best course of action: “If you are in that
situation get out of it immediately.
“Depending on what you’re comfortable with
either confront the perpetrator, alert security and the people around you or
just move out of the crowd and let the venue staff or us [Girls Against] know
as soon as possible afterwards. The same thing goes for anyone who notices
someone being groped – don’t be a bystander.”
Despite
the group mainly receiving the experiences of girls being groped by the
opposite sex, they do get instances of men being groped and people being
harassed by people of the same sex. “We
do get fewer reports of them but they do still happen,” explains Hannah.
 |
| One of the many bands who have supported Girls Against, Spector, onstage |
One thing the group has noticed however is “if
it’s girl on girl or boy on boy it’s generally because they want to get a
better spot in the crowd.” However this doesn’t excuse these cases as “they
are, of course, still cases of sexual harassment”.
The
group has received overwhelming support from a vast array of bands as well as
appearing on BBC Breakfast and being featured by NME, BBC Newsbeat, The
Huffington Post, and The Daily Mail, which is something the girls never saw
coming.
“We
set up the account on a random Tuesday night with no goal really apart to make
some noise about the issue. Since then things have kind of snowballed and it’s
very humbling and overwhelming at times.”
Even
though they set out with “no goal” the girls are now focused on what they want
to achieve with “no sexual harassment at gigs” being the ultimate aim, yet the
magnitude of this task isn’t lost on Hannah.“It’s
hard work and things aren’t going to change overnight no matter how much we
want them to, which is why we’ve got to keep chipping away at things.”
This
includes working with venues across the country “to ensure that a no tolerance
is enforced,” which they’re aiming to bring in by “getting their security
companies involved and ensure that learning how to spot and deal with sexual
harassment appropriately is a mandatory part of training”.
 |
| The Leadmill |
However according to Elyse Peacock, the brand manager
at The Leadmill in Sheffield, the venue already operates “a zero-tolerance
policy against harassment and all our security staff are fully aware of the
issue.”
When
asked how the security staff would deal with a complaint of sexual harassment
Elyse explains “Our security staff would speak to the members of public that
are involved in the incident to clarify the situation and if necessary the
customer that caused the incident would be asked to leave the venue.”
Although The Leadmill
don’t see groping at gigs as a growing problem and instead “believe that there is
just more publicity and awareness regarding the issue,” the venue would “be
happy to fully support” Girls Against which could mean that the group’s goal to
work with more venues could soon become a reality.
Yet, The Leadmill claim
that they “don’t have record of any incidents relating to harassment taking
place in the past five years”.
But after a Palma Violets
gig at this venue, tweets emerged claiming that fans had experienced sexual
harassment, with one user tweeting "shoutout to the two melts at pv’s [Palma Violets] who thought it would be good to grope girls and p*** on the floor to hold their place.”
Therefore this shows that despite the amount of awareness being successfully generated by Girls Against, the real progress against sexual harassment at gigs will only be seen when everyone feels confident to take action against it, in the moment that it occurs.
This will only come in time as Girls Against is still in the infant stages of its campaign but for as long as this problem has a voice, sexual harassment at gigs will become less of a stigma for all sexes.
