It seems like the perfect weekend away, until it’s not.
This week Teen Vogue journalist Vera Papisova went undercover at Coachella Music Festival in California to report on prolific sexual harassment and assault at music festivals.
“This year’s Coachella experience was also full of moments I never saw on Instagram: being repeatedly violated by strangers,” the journalist wrote.
In the 10 hours that Papisova was at Coachella festival, she interviewed fellow festival goers about sexual harassment and assault. In these 10 hours, the journalist herself was groped 22 times. That’s more than twice an hour.
The journalist shared that one man felt it appropriate to grab her stomach and ask her whether she does pilates, another followed her while she walked to another stage, only to grab her by the hips and whisper that she’s a “goddess”.
Women can now share the dangerous spots in Sydney with one another. But is this just needless fear mongering? Post continues.
Of the 54 young women that Papisova interviewed at Coachella, every single one of them had a story of sexual assault or harassment from the festival.
“Of course sexual harassment happens here, it happens to us at all concerts. At Coachella it is so many people that men will get away with touching you, and they think we don’t notice. It happened to me many times already, and I notice every time,” 19-year-old Ana shared.
Another festival-goer, 20-year-old June, described being groped 40 times during the first weekend of Coachella.
Sexual assault at music festivals is also a huge problem here on Australian soil.
Last year at Fall’s Festival in Marion’s Bay Tasmania, there were three reported cases of sexual assault. In 2016, there were five reported cases of sexual assault at the same event.
While there is limited research on sexual harassment and assault at Australia’s festivals, the Australian Bureau of Statistics recently revealed 38 per cent of 18-24 year-old women had experienced sexual harassment in the past year.
Top Comments
Drugs, alcohol, summer clothes, music, dancing, thousands of people.....what could POSSIBLY go wrong? The only way you wouldn’t get groped or harassed or stalked or assaulted at a music festival is if it was women (biological women not transwomen) ONLY unfortunately. It’s f**king disgraceful. But how do you police it? Back in the day, even when I deliberately dressed down, no make-up, runners or boots, cap or shaved head, I would still cop it. Where do these entitled, misogynistic males get off on doing this??? That’s right, the patriarchy, which is still denied and disregarded as a state of affairs.
Lol you don't think women grope people?
We need to start carrying hat pins around, like they did in the old days.
I've been groped at pretty much every concert I've been too. I don't even go in moshes, haven't for years because of what happens. Still manages to happen while I'm standing there, watching the band. Sometimes they get a mouthful or a kick, sometimes you get a chance to point them out to security (I got a guy thrown out of a venue once! Yay for that bouncer who cared!), but most of them just disappear into the crowd.
I also think that, since this a problem with men being unable to keep their hands to themselves, their fellow man, who finds this sort of behaviour to be disgusting, needs to start calling out other men when he sees it happen. And call their mates out on it, too. Sick of this being framed as a woman's problem and that we, somehow, have to prevent it from happening.
Not like men do.
Can you go to a concert without having your penis grabbed?
Do you have to keep your guard up at all times while trying to enjoy music? Don't try and frame this as equal. It never has been and it never will be. Groping is mostly a male problem.
I just KNEW there would be a comment trying to divert the focus onto women as predators. Nice try.