Music | The Guardian: Sandwich-maker. Foot-rubber. Mother. Eye candy. Enabler. Subordinate. Weakling. Women and non-binary (NB) touring crew members have heard it all while working as managers, sound techs, drivers, engineers and other roles – and resistance is mounting as live gigs fitfully begin to return.
10 comments:
It’s really frustrating to read this article and realize that there is little to no progress in terms. Even if these are outdated claims or jokes that stem from a past culture that allowed for this kind of behavior to happen, it is unacceptable that this is still established as an unsafe space for anyone who does not present as male.
One of my close friends is on tour and he talks a lot about how it is a family environment between the crew because you travel with everyone, work long hours, and live on a bus or in hotel rooms with the same people for months and months on end- and from that perspective it sounds like a hard but incredible profession. Then I read this article and all of that just went out the window. The statement that stands out to me is the quote from Laura Nagtegaal where she says “To be part of a touring crew, you give up so much as it is… just to be taken advantage of, be abused, be underpaid, overworked, physically strained, mentally drained and left to rot at the side of the road if you speak up.” While I understand every tour group has a different experience (as mentioned in the article as well, through Madeline Campbell’s experience), that does not sound like the familial supportive environment I had heard of. And I don’t know if as a female that this is a space I would want to work in knowing the duality of the environments I could land in.
This article was very sad to read, and a little frightening. As a woman who intends to tour, I am concerned. It is good to be aware however, and I guess this article served as a bit of a wake up call. I hope that the "roadie culture" develops into a more inclusive environment for everybody there.
I understand that tours can be drastically different based on who you are working with, but the fact that you can be the person in charge, and still be blatantly disrespected because of your gender identity, is just outdated and sickening.
I am still interested in touring, but now I feel more aware of what I would be getting myself into, should I find myself with a less respectful group of people.
Yeah, uh, this article made me nauseous. Really nauseous. And also scared. Frankly, I could have done with a content warning. Like, I thought that the shady, sexist bullshit I have to deal with here was bad. I know it is not a competition, but dear god this stuff is so much worse. What do you even do? You can’t speak up, you can’t ignore it because it might get worse. I am so disgusted and frustrated that entertainment tolerates this at all levels still. To say, “oh, well this guy has been touring 50 years so it’s fine,” is just such a cop out. Hire younger people. Hire more women. WHY ON EARTH would you want such a toxic working environment? Women are not expendable accessories. We should not have to give up our femininity, our bodies, our mental health to appease disgusting, horrible, sexist men and keep our jobs. We should not have to AVOID an entire sector of entertainment because it is dangerous for us to be there. This is just so unacceptable.
I have understood that touring can be a really isolating and abusive for female and nonbinary roadies, but this article hit really hard. I want to say that I hope things get better, but, to be honest, I have yet to see any sort of structure or initiative that will make those advancements. At this point, it seems like dumb luck if a woman or nonbinary person has a positive experience on the road. What is particularly striking is that if you speak up, your jeopardize your work security because there is no one to talk to who will protect your or advocate for you. If you don’t speak up, then you are at risk for things to get might work. I do not care what your resume looks like. If you treat women and nonbinary people like this, you have no place on any crew. Why is it that if we show up to work in our own bodies, we are inherently put at risk because somehow who we are gives others a right to cause irreparable harm. The only way this gets better is if we create the structure for women and nonbinary people to report this kind of abuse, believe them, and advocate for their safety and well-being in a way that punishes the abuser and not the victim.
Nothing in this article is unfortunately surprising but it is pretty dismal and upsetting to hear about. I know I’ve considered the touring route pre-covid and definitely knew it was an issue but reconsidering it now I think the stress of touring with this added layer of ingrained misogyny (which of course exists throughout the industry but is particularly rampant here) makes me think by the time it’s an option again I won’t be interested. I also want to take some time to talk about those in places of privilege in a situation like this standing up for the victims. It really infuriates me to hear comments like, oh yeah I was uncomfortable and knew what was happening was wrong but figured so and so could “handle it”. Yeah you don’t get to be in this industry for very long if you can’t “handle it”, but if someone was punching someone in the face most people would intervene even if they thought the other person could “handle” being punched in the face, like yes they’ll endure the encounter but they’ll be worst off for it. It is just exhausting for the pressure to be placed on those who are the victim or those who relate to the victim because they’ve been similar if not the same situation and not a sustainable way to handle the systemic issue at hand.
This article was very upsetting, but unfortunately it really was not surprising. So much of the sexism that persists in technical theater comes from a “culture” of a male dominated field. Asking a man to not make a sexist remark is then perceived as an inconvenience to the man and some type of “politically correct” thing. I just recently watched a seminar where women in the Navy discussed their experiences as some of the first women in their specific fields, and all of them talked about the importance of male allies. It should not always fall to women and non-binary individuals to correct behavior. Male allies who call out other men on inappropriate and sexist behavior and commentary will have a significant impact on changing the culture of technical theater, particularly in touring situations. While this article does seem to be a warning to women and non-binary people, I hope it also is a wake up call to men in positions of power who continue to stand by while sexist behavior is pervasive throughout the industry.
It is so infuriating that the industry I like so much can be so openly hostile to women and nb folks. I worked in live corporate events in Boston, and there’s a decent overlap between that and concert touring. I remember a discussion between two male lighting techs who were discussion the Kavanaugh nomination and one of them said that they were concerned that accusations could ruin a person’s career. A bold claim that I immediately refuted, but I doubt I did anything to actually convince them of anything. It is very clear when looking around the room, that most technicians are white and male, and its not because this field is only appealing to a certain demographic. It’s because the culture pushes people out. It is on men to make sure that no one is being pushed out, and to call out toxic behavior when they witness it. I want everyone to feel safe in this industry.
I can’t say that I’m surprised at the experiences described in this article. I’ve been reading articles posted to the Green Page for the past three years that reveal how terribly female and non-binary technicians are treated on set or on tour and how speaking out often backfires. I hope its not just my female and non-binary classmates are reading these articles too, because its male dominated spaces that perpetuate this harassment. The way IATSE works though is that seniority is prioritized, which makes me think that the reasons so much toxically masculine and white supremacist culture is so prevalent because those with seniority in the union rise to the top of hiring lists. Don’t get me wrong, unions are important and the rights that they protect and secure for workers, but the culture that I often hear about how toxic union members are. I know this article does not specifically mention IA, but I can’t help but make that connection. I hope that newer male technicians will help bring a better culture to the touring world, because I hope that there's a day where anyone who's not a straight white man can read articles about how awesome it is to be a technician and not feel scared.
Working as a manager on a touring show is one of my life goals so reading this article pained me, in a sense. Of course misogyny is still very common in male dominated fields all around the world but to hear it outright, when idolizing the rock and roll culture for so long, is soul crushing. It should no longer be considered normal for women to be put down in their place of work and being silenced into not speaking up about the unabashed sexism. Women having to adapt to more masculine roles just to be taken semi-seriously is so wrong in so many ways. Internalized misogyny is something that I feel most women have had to struggle with, whether it be hating other women for the approval of men or presenting themselves as “one of the guys” to be seen on the same playing field. Systems like the toxic communities mentioned in the article only further promote these thoughts and hurt so many people. I just hope by the time I want to tour, things have improved.
Like everyone has said, this article churns my stomach in such a terrible way. Reading the experiences of women in the concert touring world is scary for them, but also scary for me because that’s exactly the work I want to do. Managing concert tours has been a huge goal of mine since my senior year of high school and I knew hardships would come my way as a manager of color. I’m glad they included the experiences of the black female tour manager, Alliz Espi, because it showed me that no matter the age, this will happen to you. Not just in high school, but even at CMU, I’ve experienced white men and women just not speaking directly to me about crew issues when I am the crew head backstage. My lighting teacher in high school always told me about his life as a roadie and tips to not let the men fuck with you because he knew that industry will really try my patience to its last fiber. I’m excited to explore the concert touring world but hopefully something will change so I don’t end up with these experiences years later.
Post a Comment