Published
Fri, Sep 25, 2020, 17:41
- "Together, we can bring the dance music industry back to its roots."
Rebekah has started an anti-sexual harassment campaign called #ForTheMusic.
The British DJ announced the new initiative in an Instagram post this week.
"After deciding I would like to mentor people to help bring them in to the industry," she said, "it became apparent I was unable to do this unless I stood up and tried to fight to make the industry a safer place all round."
The #ForTheMusic campaign starts with an open letter and petition at Change.org, pledging to protect artists, staff and partygoers from harassment, guarantee safe workplaces and other initiatives.
"We have lost our jobs, our careers, our credibility and our reputation by speaking out," the open letter says. "Labelled promiscuous beings deserving of violence, we are told that our cuts and bruises mean nothing if aimed at those with gentle faces, and high followings. But not anymore. We have stayed quiet, and never went public. But not anymore. We tried to do this privately and found ourselves unheard. But not anymore."
"In the last weeks we have seen our community divided," it continues. "Willful ignorance, slut-shaming and a mistrust of victims testimonies in the face of systematic and rampant abuse has left many of us questioning if those founding values of love and freedom that we all came for, have finally been lost to a status quo which allows for an abuse of power, which encourages it, glorifies it even. There are predators in OUR scene—and this must not be tolerated any longer. We can no longer excuse the behavior of high profile artists because they are high profile anymore."
Participants are encouraged to print out the #ForTheMusic poster (or create their own) and post a black-and-white photo of themselves.