According to the NIH in the US, “Focusing on a woman’s body promotes objectification and decreases perceptions of her mental capacity and moral status. This relationship between body focus and objectification has been demonstrated through multiple lines of research including cognitive, visual processing and dehumanization research. Although active sexual goals are an important factor explaining many men’s objectification of women, there may be alternative factors or more fundamental reasons contributing to greater female objectification by other men and women.”
Now apply this to a woman performing on stage and consider the potential objectification opportunities in her workplace – Venue Manager, Bar Staff, Security, Agent, Manager, Publicist, Production Crew, Festival Producer, Stage Manager, Musicians on stage with her and of course the Audience.
“She looks a little too chunky. Don’t book her again until she loses those extra pounds.”
“The chick bent over and I could see what she had for breakfast. Don’t book her here again.”
“It’s a decent rack but she is a total psycho. Do you have someone else?”
“Bitch is 5 months pregnant – who wants to look at that?”
Or the golden chestnut for when I speak up and say something:
“Stop overreacting. Its just blokes being blokes. It means nothing.”
How would I feel if I overheard some blokes speaking like this about any of the small humans in my life? Would I dismiss it as harmless bloke bravado or should I be ok with this objectification of them not as human but as a thing to be looked at, touched, played with or just f**ked?
Years of working on and off stage could fill several books with comments like these uttered about women by blokes in the Musoverse. Anyone willing to label a woman on her f**kability is actively reducing her to an object of pleasure – and ignoring her value not only as an artist but as a human. That level of self-entitlement is the first step on a very slippery slope.
Our industry had a wakeup call this week, one which, I believe is not only timely but necessary.
This is a complex issue. There is no black and white predator and prey scenario.
Here is why……
One bad break up, unconscious childhood PTSD, a society actively playing the Holy Trinity game – Victim, Villain and Hero, and how easy would it be for someone to lose their livelihood based on hearsay and gossip. Unfortunately, I have witnessed first hand how, without appropriate controls and measures in place to manage an evidence based reporting system, some people have been easy targets – sitting ducks.
In our industry, its hallmark, shamefully, is that 90% of the industry information is based on hearsay and gossip. Urban Myths abound. I have heard the most insane gossip about myself over the years. None of it was true and quite honestly it gave me a giggle – it was so ridiculous. Ziad K. Abdelnour said 'For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.'
Yet in the case of Sexual Misconduct accusations, hearsay could kill someone’s business or career without the appropriate legal pathways.
Concurrently, someone could easily get away with Sexual Misconduct for the very same reasons.
So we must always operate from the very tricky middle.
The cold hard truth here is that no amount of legislation or promotion will stamp out Sexual Misconduct in a workplace – including a Music workplace. Studies like the one I quoted above are filled with reasons why this is the case.
Therefore, the best place to start is to build capacity for women so that when faced with Sexual Misconduct they have strategies to manage it, report it and call it out.
Gazillions of years ago, as the lead vocalist, my job was to collect the payment at the end of the gig, - in the days where venues paid cash after the show. It was a gig in the country. I knew the venue manager well due to regular phone calls to book the band. In essence I trusted him. When he said that I needed to drive with him “just up the road” to collect the cash from the home safe, I had no reason not to think anything other than being paid.
Fast forward to the car on the side of the road, pitch black, miles from nowhere, no one else around with him trying to rape me in the front seat. When I registered in that moment, “Oh f**k!, this is happening” I quickly pulled myself out of the shock, faked my period and was able to vomit on his pants while apologising and promising “Next time.” I played the game well enough so that he believed me. It could have gone a whole other way.
The gift that this piece of shit gave me was a more refined sense of discernment. He shone a spotlight on my blind spots. I learned to convert what may have been interpreted as flirting into black and white business. This weak pathetic excuse for a man was brilliant at reading people. He used language to build trust and he bided his time. He was so good at this that I allowed myself to be alone in a remote place with someone that I believed that I trusted. How many women can relate to this?
It is time to face the music.
For women, it is key to get super real with yourself, look at your identity and values through a new lens and actively craft some new strategies to not only get yourself out of vulnerable situations like this but to avoid them altogether. Build capacity.
For men, the complete activation of a zero-tolerance zone for objectification. Zero.
Sexual misconduct is not limited to men over women so read Men Instead of Women and vice versa for the above two phrases.
Every single human needs to talk. Talk about your experiences and your observations without censure and hold a vision for a very different future for humanity.
Written by Nichola Burton. I work in partnership with Agents, Artist Managers and Event Producers, who juggle a diverse range of relationships in the Musoverse, to curate, manage and measure data in systems, experience, creative and content to support the entire Musoverse operation in my enterprise A Little Pitchy Copyright 2024