We Deserve Safety at Concerts and Festivals by blogger Ashley

With Lollapalooza at its peak, festival season is winding down for the year in most states. Thousands of people will be attending the last few major festivals before the school year gets intense and workloads grow higher. Music festivals are most common among college students and tend to be the most congested at times. Because hundreds to thousands of people are packed together at a stage, personal space is non-existent. You get used to someone bumping into you or accidentally touching/rubbing against your butt or breasts. It comes with the territory, so they say.

What you don’t get used to is someone grabbing your butt or breasts. We all know the difference between an accidental touch and an intentional grab. It makes you feel uncomfortable, disrespected, and can ruin your mood and festival experience. You’re out to have fun with friends, and someone else is out to have extra fun without your consent.

A new crop of concertgoers are rising up and speaking out against nonconsensual touching at concerts. For instance, females who crowdsurf at concerts shouldn’t have to worry about being felt up as she surfs above a sea of mostly male hands. People should stop saying, “if you don’t want to get touched inappropriately, don’t crowd surf.”

Even performers aren’t safe from perpetrators. At a June concert, female members of bands Pity Sex and Tigers Jaw were the recipients of nonconsensual kisses from a male concertgoer who jumped on stage during their performances. These bands prefer playing at shows without barricades because they feel closer to fans that way, but if people aren’t going to respect them and their bodies, then they may have to strictly play venues with barricades in the future. (I wrote a response to news of a member of another band who made a “joke” about the incident at Warped Tour and his half-apology days later.)

Everyone deserves to feel safe at concerts and festivals, rather than expect to be violated. Being drunk is not an excuse for someone to touch you without permission because many of those same people would do the same thing sober. We have to look out for each other as we are surprisingly (or maybe not so surprising) highly vulnerable in huge crowds. Have fun and don’t be afraid to call someone out for inappropriate behavior when you experience or see it.