Photos by Michael McGrath
[Editor’s note – If you missed it, also read Showing Up and Stepping Back from earlier this month.]
Last summer I got called a cunt for pushing a man to the ground at Amyl and the Sniffers’ UMS set. It wasn’t an intentional act of violence, but when an extremely large and sweaty man decided to put all of his weight against my back, I acted. The women around me gave me high-fives as he scrambled off the ground, spitting mad and red with chagrin. This wasn’t the first time I had gotten rowdy in self-defense at a show; several years ago I kicked a guy in the balls during a hardcore set because he wouldn’t stop lifting up my friend and throwing her across the room. Pit etiquette seems at an all time low. More importantly, people do not seem to be listening to what feminist artists are actually saying.
“Girls to the front!” was a popular slogan of the Riot GRRRL movement coined by Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna. It allowed women access into the traditionally male-dominated world of the mosh pit. More importantly, it was a tool to end sexual violence at punk shows. If all the women were up front under the stage lights, it was easier for artists and security to identify when they were in danger. There are always sickos who will use a mosh pit as an excuse to touch women without their consent. At Lollapalooza in 1995, Courtney Love was stripped practically naked during a stage dive and groped by dozens of men in the audience. When she returned to the stage in tears, she asked the audience, “Why did you have to rape me?”
I would like to think a lot has changed since 1995, although most American women have less rights now then they did then, thanks to our slovenly dunce of a president. And at shows, people still have to plead to not be touched. At the beginning of every Amyl and the Sniffers show, lead singer Amy Taylor tells the audience “If anybody falls down, you help them up. Do not touch anybody who does not want to be touched!” It seems such a banal ask, and yet, even when asked directly, people still have a problem keeping their hands to themselves. Several times in the last couple of years Taylor has had to publicly address reports of sexual assault and abuse at her concerts. It seems possible that the sense of safety she tries to provide her audience during her shows is taken advantage of.
During both of their most recent Denver appearances, Taylor and Phoebe Lunny of Lambrini Girls took time from their sets to directly address the men of the audience; asking them to stand up for women and stop supporting other men who commit violence against women. Although in both instances this plea was met with applause, what is the likelihood that the men of the audience act on this? It seems like these things continue to happen both at shows and behind closed doors.
This is not an attempt to crucify men, who can also face aggression and violence at shows. This is an invocation for the safety and security of all people at concerts. Listening to Amyl and the Sniffers doesn’t make you progressive, and owning the new Lambrini Girls record doesn’t make you an ally. Hearing these women, however, and actually creating safe spaces for vulnerable people at shows should be the bare minimum. But if the concession of our bodily autonomy is the only way to get a seat at the table, maybe it’s time we build a new table entirely.
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