Sexism In The EDM Industry

While Electric music is not a new concept, a wave of it hit the world last summer. Everyone was encompassed by the sheer power of it. However, when people think of EDM, they very often automatically think of deadmau5, David Guetta, Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia and other well-known EDM artists. What is strange about this is the fact that female names are never thrown around when it comes to EDM. And yet, the number of female DJs is continually growing and growing.

What is interesting to note, is the fact that while female DJ names are not being talked about, very often people discuss names that actually belong to female groups. Examples include Nervo, a Australian DJ group consisting of twins, as well as Krewella- a group consisting of Kris Trindl and Yasmine and Jahan Yousaf. Interestingly, these two groups are very often considered guy groups. When hired to work, both pairs of sisters often encounter surprise when they are met at airports, or at the front doors, simply because no one expects them to be the well-known EMD artists.

There are several other DJs that encounter very similar problems. Brittany Bowles noted that very often the responses she gets include “you’re good for a girl”, a statement that can be perceived as quite offensive. Similarly, Rebekah Farrugia mentions that people very often think that a guy made her tracks, and that she is incapable of making music on her own.

The other female DJs agree, the Yousaf sisters who are in the Krewella group with Kris Trindl say that people very often comment saying that Kris is probably doing all the work in place of the girls. The disparity between men and women continues into the field to this day, and unfortunately it is very difficult to overcome the negative connotations associated with DJing as a girl.

There have however been strives to overcome the stereotyping of female DJs. In New York City, more and more female DJs are coming forward, showing their skills and being accepted for being just as good as the big name DJs like Skrillex and Deadmau5. The Yousaf sisters themselves live in Manhattan, and they say that they’ve seen a move toward greater gender equality in the DJ business.

In fact, The Rollingstones recently ran an article about the HARD Festival that happens annually. Generally, this festival attracts around 300,000 people in a single weekend, and the weekend features all of the biggest DJs. This upcoming year however, there will be a very interesting change: the organizers of the Festival are planning a weekend of only female DJs in order to equal the playing field in the DJ business. This will happen in the upcoming Spring in both Los Angeles and New York. The fact that both locations are willing to dedicate an entire weekend to female DJs is spectacular, especially when one considers how difficult it is for women to get credit for their work.

One example of discrimination was actually done by a major record company in the DJ industry: Spinning Records. They photoshopped a picture to make a stove look like a spinning table and tweeted it. Millions of followers saw the tweet, and as a result their image was ruined. Many women opted to unfollow the newsfeed of Spinning Records on Twitter. However, even though people are opposed to this sort of discrimination, the problem pursues.

It is also evident that many of the women that want to pursue careers in the DJ industry have to dress a certain way in order to attract a fan base. More often than not, the women attempting to join the industry wear very skimpy clothes, however it is more often than not not for themselves, but for men. While women do have the right to dress the way that they wish, people generally tend to expect women to dress a certain way in the music industry, regardless of the genre.

Jahan from Krewella had something to say about this aspect of the industry:

“What I’m more curious about is why our so-called ‘enlightened,’ free-thinking society won’t allow women to explore their sexual desires without condemning them. […] What kind of message is this sending? That we are welcome to explore our sexiness when HE wants us to, but not when WE want? That we should sanitize our explicit actions and only let them come out from hiding when we are the object of the masculine gaze? […] We are in denial if we don’t think gender representations in the mass media and the public’s reaction to them are sexist.”

Obviously this is a bigger problem than we seem to let on. Jahan expresses her desire to be able to dress the way that she wants without being criticized. To her and her sister, the media plays a huge role in the characters that they choose to display while on stage. While they are comfortable with what they wear, it would be interesting to see if they would still wear the same clothes if the media didn’t expect them to.

Many people have expressed their criticisms about the EDM culture, saying that it is sexist in general. Not only are DJs very often male, but the girls that attend these events very often also dress in a very sexual way to attract attention. The whole twerking and tube top culture stems from these events, and it all relates back to the lack of female DJs. If these women didn’t feel the pressure to act and dress a certain way, there would be more women in the EDM industry, and younger girls attending these events would not have role models that are dressing in nothing but bathing suits and shorts that are nothing more than underwear.

While EDM music and raving is not something that I myself am a part of, it is definitely interesting to look into the backstory behind why the culture is so sexist. People inherently believe that women cannot be good when it comes to creating electronic music, and that they have to dress a certain way. It will be interesting to see whether in the future more HARD festivals will be created dedicated to female DJs and whether the culture of Raves and EDM music will change to give women a bit more freedom to cover up, and to create music in the same proportion as men.

Works Cited:

Knopper, Steve. “Hard Festival Plotting All-Female DJ Weekends.” Rolling Stone. Rollingstone, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Gates, Sara. “Breaking The Myth Of The Female DJ In Electronic Dance Music.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Tamulavage, Diane. “Is the EDM Culture Inherently Sexist?” YourEDM RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Vingan, Alissa. “Female DJs You Need to Know.” Marie Claire. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Hawking, Tom. “Flavorwire.” Flavorwire. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.