It’s the night of the gig. The gig, you know – the one you’ve been anticipating for, like, ever. You’ve payed twenty-something pounds for your ticket, and you’re majorly, majorly excited. You’re finally there, and the atmosphere is ethereal and exhilarating. But then your night is completely tarnished by some creep who decides the crowd is an appropriate place to grope someone.
Sexual harassment at gigs somehow goes unnoticed far too often, and is rarely discussed on a large scale. It has happened to most, if not all, female gig-goers I know. It has happened to me. It has happened to my best friends. After one had a particularly bad experience at a gig, my friends Hannah, Ava, Bea, Anni and I decided to try and put a stop to this repugnant behaviour. Thus, Girls Against was born.
Girls Against was set up through a love of music and concerts, and through anger at the lack of awareness and action against sexual assault. After setting up our Twitter account, which we done without any prior planning or organisation, stories of experiences came flooding in; some very hard to read, but all too real. Less than a week had gone by and we had gained over 2000 followers. It overwhelmed us, but we are so grateful to have been boosted onto a platform which will enable us to make a real difference. We are here for all genders, whether that be female, male, non-binary or any other gender. However, our priority is helping girls who are vulnerable, as the majority of victims are female.
For decades, girls have been sexually and verbally abused at gigs and festivals. Kathleen Hanna’s ‘Girls to the Front’ movement in the 90’s prioritised girls at gigs, allowing them safety and sanctity away from the often brutal and dangerous nature of a crowd. As powerful as this statement was, Girls Against exists to push people in 2015 to understand that this is an issue which still exists, and must be stopped. The support has been incredible for our campaign; as well as our 3000+ strong Twitter following, artists such as Peace, Swim Deep, Circa Waves, Enter Shikari, Kate Nash, Slaves and Gengahr have shown support for our cause, which is so humbling, but it’s particularly important as it means artists are acknowledging the fact that it’s an issue which needs resolving so that their shows can be an enjoyable, safe experience for everyone in attendance. Building on raising awareness, we plan on directly contacting music venues and security companies so they too can be aware of the issue, and establish a plan to combat it. We are going to work with several organisations to raise further awareness, as well as offering support for victims, as sexual harassment can stay with someone and put them off ever going back to a gig, which is damaging and completely unfair.
Fellow Indiependent writer Caitlin O’Connor shared her experience with gig harassment with me, and wanted me to share it here too:
“Most of the excitement cultivated by my group of friends at Leeds Festival 2014 was focused on the final set of the weekend: Arctic Monkeys were returning to Yorkshire. It was set to be an insane night, and it was looking that way for most of the day, until it came crashing down at the wandering hands of the gobshite behind us.
A man, hiding his sexual predatory behind cans of cider and the call for lads to act like lads, started playing with my friend’s hair. She, unable to fully grasp what was happening to her, went into panic mode. When another friend and I told him to stop he turned his perversion on us, stroking the sides of our faces from behind us. At this point, our now crying friend had been ushered to the side of us, away from the man, but that wasn’t enough; he wanted to play with us, like we were his toys, or for us to be taken out of the toy box if we weren’t willing to be played with. My friend and I, having kicked off again, stayed standing in front of him, letting him know that he wasn’t to get whatever he we wanted. Like a troublesome toddler, he and his friends moved away when he got bored. You’d think turning him away was a success, right? But the night was ruined, a friend was in tears, and this story is forever told when we speak about Leeds Fest. Sexual harassment, in whichever form it takes, is not something that can be taken lightly. Girls are not toys for boys to play with.”
Most stories we receive at Girls Against prefer to remain anonymous, however Caitlin wanted to share her story. This is one particularly vile example of how damaging assault can be – it is not something to dismiss. It is – like any other form of harassment or assault – illegal and cannot be accepted or ignored any longer.
There will be times where Girls Against will be quieter, as you must bear in mind we are five teenage girls in full time education, but do not undermine our power. We were once told “I don’t believe five girls on Twitter will make a difference”. Do not undermine us – we are strong, dedicated and determined to eradicate sexual harassment. We will not stop this campaign until groping is viewed as an extremely serious and urgent matter. We aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
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Words by Anna Cowan