Female musicians have had enough.
In the wake of an assault at a Newcastle hotel in New South Wales over the Easter weekend, several singers have spoken out about their distressing experiences with male audience members.
Brisbane’s Maz DeVita was performing with her band Waax at the Cambridge Hotel on Sunday night when she was “quite aggressively groped” twice by the same man.
DeVita explained in an Instagram post that she couldn’t figure out who he was because he moved so quickly in a large crowd of people.
“But I hope you’re glad to know that I f**king felt it and it was extremely degrading,” she added. “I don’t know who you are, but you know who you are, and I want you to know that your disgusting behaviour is not welcome in our music scene or anywhere really. It is totally disrespectful and plain f**ked up.”
DeVita went on to say that musicians work hard and deserve respect.
“You wouldn’t grope someone in the grocery store, on the bus or in your workplace,” she added. “So what makes this situation any different? What am I to you? Last time I checked I’m a f**king human who deserves the right to her own body and the right to work in a safe environment.”
The Newcastle Herald reports that the incident is being investigated by the hotel’s management.
Sydney’s Alexandra Lynn, who performs as Alex the Astronaut, saw DeVita’s post and felt she had to share her own experience. She played her first all-ages show in Adelaide over the weekend, and was approached afterwards by four boys who asked for photos.
“One put his arm around me and whispered in my ear that he had a crush on me (two times) and asked if that was okay to say,” she explained on Instagram. “When I said I’m gay, so yes, as long as he got that, he said it again. I am small, he was very tall he kept his arm around me the whole time and I felt uncomfortable.”
“His friend did the same thing and when I tried to leave got annoyed and when he asked to buy me a drink and when I said ‘no thanks’ got cranky,” she added.
Lynn says she walked away “feeling yuck and worried they’d come back”.
“I go to shows to sing for the people, I work hard and I want to meet people but that makes me want to cry. I feel guilty and not sure what I’m allowed to say back.”
Meanwhile, Melbourne singer Kira Puru posted a message of support for DeVita.
“You’re amazing and I’m so sorry this happened,” she wrote on DeVita’s Instagram page.
On her own Instagram page, Puru revealed what had happened to her while performing in Townsville recently. She explained that she suffered from “crippling anxiety” from time to time, and just a few hours before her show, had a health scare which triggered a panic attack.
“When I stepped into the lights, everything was whirring and I felt pretty nervous that I might have a panic attack on stage,” she wrote. “During the show, some loser from the crowd yelled out some s**t about my ‘fat p***y’ from in the pit.”
Puru says she called it out and dealt with it on stage, but straight after the set, had “a bit of an embarrassing meltdown/release triggered by that moment”.
“There’s so many things I wanted to say about this but I think we can all just agree that this behaviour is inappropriate, disrespectful and entirely unwarranted. IT IS HARRASSMENT.”
She warned that anyone who behaved like “a f***king tool” would be called out and kicked out.
“If you are with or near a stupid f**king gronk, call their behaviour out and make them accountable. If you can’t see why this behaviour is an issue YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM…”
Triple J host Bridget Hustwaite posted on Twitter that she was “absolutely disgusted” to hear about these female artists being harassed at their own shows.
“I support you queens and I hope to see more people in our industry (particularly men) SPEAK UP and STAND UP for you! This is not on!”
Today on Twitter, Puru thanked everyone who had reached out and shown support.
“Though we have some way to go, it’s comforting to know that we are more supported and held by our community than ever, that this behaviour will be clocked, and abusers made accountable.”
If this post brings up any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. It doesn’t matter where you live, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.
Top Comments
I think it's worse for these women because, unlike "someone in the grocery store, on the bus or in your workplace", they're putting so much of themselves and the things they care about into their work; there can be an immediacy and an honesty to their music that some will confuse as intimacy with the singer themselves. Understanding and respecting boundaries may impact that connection people may feel to the music, but it has to, because this sort of behaviour isn't acceptable - never has been, never will be.
I am so freakin’ sick of this shit. People need to learn to keep their damn hands and filthy comments to themselves. And if you find yourself doing things like this when you’re drunk, *stop drinking*. Just stop, and learn how to behave like a bloody human being.