Despite on-site sexual violence initiatives and resources at this year’s Coachella festival in the US, one in six women were sexually harassed.
The shocking figure was reported by The Desert Sun, which surveyed over 320 women on-site at the 2019 Coachella and Stagecoach festivals.
In an in-depth piece published by health reporter Nicole Hayden for the US publication, The Desert Sun outlines its findings which includes the that 94% of women who responded said they had been harassed at some point during their life at a music event.
Most shocking though, is that 15% of female respondents surveyed onsite using electronic questionnaires answered ‘yes’ to being sexually harassed at the three-weekend festival.
In a Reddit AMA, Nicole Hayden said because she was the only person conducting the survey on-site, she wasn’t able to conduct a survey of men as well.
“You are right, men do experience harassment/assault as well,” she responded to one Redditor. “But were not surveyed because we only had one person surveying (me) and we would have had to survey twice as many people and we did not have the capacity or resources to do that.”
Another Redditor asked whether Coachella has plans to stop the clear issue with sexual harassment at its festival.
“Coachella/Goldenvoice plans to continue with their safety plan they did this year, but expand it,” replied Hayden. “They believe once they get the kinks worked out it will be make an impact […] However, the International Festivals and Events Association is in the works of creating stronger policy and plans for festivals to create a safer space.”
21-year-old festival-goer Rosie Makinen shared her experience with the publication, the San Diego native said:
“This guy walked past me,” Makinen recalled. “(He) touched my lower back and butt area really fast. Those little instances, you almost question yourself because you know it isn’t OK, but it was so small, you feel like you can’t say anything about it.
“I think that’s what the problem is. It has become normalised and guys think it’s fine if they do it, and it is just unacceptable.”
National Sexual Violence Resource Center spokeswoman Laura Palumbo said:
“Every day sexual harassment is so minimised, excused and ignored, that even if women feel violated, they may feel pressure not to label the experience as harassment or assault because they feel they are taking something away from someone who experienced something more serious,” Palumbo said.
“But that is not the case. It is all inappropriate behaviour and if we tolerate these small acts of sexual harassment, it creates the possibility for much more violation in all forms.”
What’s perhaps most unnerving is that this year’s edition of Coachella saw festival producer Goldenvoice provide a centralised tent offered counselling services and assistance for victims of harassment and assault. Yet, two-thirds of the 323 women surveyed said they were not aware of the Every One campaign.
There has been marked progress however. The US’ Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) team noted that over the course of Coachella 2018, which hosted approximately 825,000 punters, seven people reported being raped at festival campgrounds, or at short-term rentals or private residences nearby.
This year, the SAFE team performed a rape kit on one male victim during the festival, however Indio Police ruled that single report as unfounded after speaking with the alleged victim.
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