Meet the five teenagers taking on sexual harassment
Gigs give us plenty of things to worry about, from whether we'll get to the barrier and who the support act will be, to if our favourite song will be played, and now, sexual harassment.
No longer safe spaces were music fans can come together, gigs are increasingly becoming sources of anxiety for many, so much so it has prevented some fans from seeing certain bands or going to certain venues again.
Luckily there is a solution in the form of five teenagers from Glasgow, Edinburgh and London.
Entitled Girls Against their aim is to raise awareness and ultimately eradicate sexual harassment from venues up and down the country.
Their campaign has already garnered attention from the likes of Peace and Wolf Alice, aswell as the NME and BBC, their support showing how widespread the issue is.
We spoke to one of the group's members, Hannah, about the campaign, feminism and how you can do your bit...
There's no better time than now.
What is Girls Against and what is your aim?
Girls Against is a campaign set up by myself (Hannah) and my five best friends - Anna, Anni, Ava and Bea to raise awareness and combat sexual harassment at gigs. Our primary aims at the moment are to continue raising awareness by getting the support of bands and their fans. At the moment we're in contact with venues and their respective security companies to make sure they have proper training in place to deal with the issue.
How can we get involved?You can follow us on social media! Having a decent following on the internet is so important in getting anything done in this day and age - something we think is really great! Keep an eye out on our twitter for our online shop which will be coming soon so you can rep us with our awesome merch. Also keep an eye out on twitter because we'll tweet if we're ever going to a concert and you can maybe join us! If you're an aspiring writer or journalist or generally just have an interest in writing we are taking submission for articles to go up on our blog. These can be on anything to do with inter-sectional feminism - we have a great platform so we want to use it!
Is Girls Against exclusively for girls?No! Absolutely not, we're inter-sectional feminists so we recognise that this happens to everyone no matter the gender - i.e. we support binary, trans and non- binary people.
Since starting the campaign how many people have come to you with similar stories of sexual harassment? Have you noticed any trends?
So many! It's kind of ridiculous the amount of stories we receive. To be honest there hasn't been huge amount of pattern - it just shows how much it happens and that it doesn't just happen at a particular type of show.
Do you think the amount of sexual harassment at gigs has increased or are people just being more vocal about it?
It might have increased, there are no definite statistics so we can't really make a definite statement. People definitely have become more vocal about it and I think that's in part due to the increased feminist discussion. Although it has been going on for years, Peace invited Bea our London member, and Sam (Koisser, bassist) from the band was telling her how it had happened to his mum so it's not suddenly manifested itself recently.
If vocal, why? Do you think it's a result of the recent increase in feminism?
Yeah absolutely, with the rise of pop feminism and other things like that which we think is a really great thing!
What can gig goers do to prevent sexual harassment at gigs?
Being aware that it goes on is a huge part of it. Obviously, letting security know is a great help if you can see it happening.
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