Being a female DJ is not a common experience but being a female in a male dominated industry is. The sexualisation and sexism that female DJ’s experience in the New Zealand music scene is something many women can relate to. From only being given gigs purely because they are an attractive female, to not being seen as talented as their male counterparts. These are the issues that a select few women who are brave enough to try and make a name for themselves in the male dominated EDM music industry face.
If you’re a woman who has even the slightest interest in bass music you are constantly asked “when are you going to be a dj, we need more females”. Well, how about making it easier for females to enter that space without feeling they were only given the opportunity because of their gender? Even when simply expressing interest in this type of music instead of conversing in the shared interest, the conversation turns to “What dj were you fucking at the time for you to get into (insert any artist that men find too cool for a women to like)”. It doesn’t stop there. For those brave enough to even try, she’s asked “has (insert male dj) been teaching you”, because she could never have taught herself.
“She only got that gig cause they need a female on the line up”: a statement uttered far too often. Many larger international acts now will only agree to play at a venue where there is at least one woman on the line up. As much as this is a great idea in theory, it is now perpetuating the stereotype that these very talented females are only given these opportunities because they are female, not because they are equally or god forbid more talented than men who weren’t given such opportunities.
When finally given these opportunities after event and event with only being males on the line up, statements such as “She only got this gig cause she’s hot” or “She only got this gig because she’s sleeping with…” are made, because people can’t fathom she got there on her own merit. The sexism doesn’t stop there after getting these gigs; these talented DJ’s are put into time slots where she is barely seen and not allowed to play to her full ability. Whereas the men are handed better time slots where they can throw down as hard as they like because “I trust him to play heavy”. Ok, but why don’t you trust her?
Many women are trying to combat this by creating initiatives, such as creating a registry of female and non-binary DJ’s and an all-female line up. However, this shouldn’t be necessary in a country that claims to be equal. These talented females should be seen for their talent, not their gender.
