‘We’re done’: Patience runs out as women face down sexual violence in nightlife industry

"One hundred per cent." From unwanted advances to assault, women in the industry say that one hundred per cent of their female-identifying friends have experienced sexual violence in nightlife settings. Stacey Forrester, Brittany Rudyck, and Calgary-based DJ Chelsea Moonchild speak with Jo Horwood about the turning tides of power in a male-dominated industry.

CALGARY — Females and femmes are carving out more space for themselves in the nightlife industry — a space that hasn’t always been safe.

“The amount of women, especially female DJs that I know that have experienced sexual assault is probably 100 per cent of them,” said Chelsea, who performs in Calgary as Moonchild.

It’s a common experience but accountability has started to form.

Last year in Edmonton, a former nightclub promoter was sentenced to eight years after he was convicted of sexually assaulting five women 17 to 22 years old between 2010 and 2016.

“It is kind of a boys club,” said Brittany Rudyck, an anti-sexual violence advocate. “Aside from the patriarchal aspects of power imbalances, there’s also the power imbalance between an artist, a performer, and their fandom.”

That power imbalance took shape recently in Calgary when a social media showdown led to the cancellation of a headlining act.


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“I saw that they were advertising for a show in Calgary and I was just like ‘Woah, this cannot happen, we need to do something, we need to stop this,’” said Chelsea.

Chelsea was aware of allegations made online against artists in the electronic music industry, including the Evidence Against Snails page.

“I kind of just started making a big deal on Facebook and making posts and telling people to email them.”

A spokesperson for Snails denies the allegations that ended in the show’s cancellation.

Stacey Forrester, the co-founder and education director for Goodnight Out Vancouver, points to the recent year off the industry was forced to take due to COVID-19, and asks why the same priority can’t be given to combatting rape culture.

“We’ve watched liquor serving places create a COVID safety plan, put it online, communicate out all of the reasons why their venue is safe, they were very aware of where people were in the space to make sure they weren’t violating rules, all of those things translate directly to this conversation,” said Forrester.

“If you worked in a job and anyone reported that you were putting others at risk while doing your job, the workforce would take some kind of action around that. The music industry has no regulation around this.”

While the experts say sexual violence will still be an issue in nightlife spaces, the patrons do hold some power.

“I’m really happy to hear that they did actually cancel the show,” said Chelsea. “I think that’s a really big step and it shows us our voices as a people has some leg and some ground in this industry.”

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