Have you heard of Slaves? They’re the mockney two-piece garage-punk-blues band who also rap a little bit and basically follow in the vein of The Streets if The Streets were also The Hives but a bit more lo-fi and aggro.
They dress like blokey skinheads and 90s football hooligans and their gigs are full of moshing in circle pits and tops off and beer thrown about, so they might not strike you as sensitive sorts:
But they actually are! Because, well a) dressing like a thug doesn't make you one, it's just really trendy right now and b) they’ve just announced their no tolerance policy towards gropers at gigs.
Responding to a complaint from Girls Against – a group of activists looking to clamp down on the sexual harassment and unwanted touching girls receive at gigs – the band posted a statement of solidarity towards girls sexually assaulted at their Cardiff gig.
Cardiff was an amazing show but it has been tainted for us now after hearing reports of lads groping young girls in the...
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‘Putting your hands all over any women without her permission is not on at any sort of concert,’ Slaves insisted, before adding: ‘If you are reading this and you were one of the men doing this. You aren't welcome at our shows’
As for those who find a random guy’s hand on their arse? ‘Please alert a security member and report the person doing it. Or just crowd surf to us and get our attention. It shouldn't go un mentioned.’
Responses have mostly been positive, with many – both men and women – complaining about the shitty ways women have been treated at gigs. There’s a couple of women exasperated that security staff don't seem to care enough about gross perves, as well as cries of ‘goes both ways!’ from some confused men. But as one commenter summed up: ‘[At] a gig people seem to think that because you're already in close proximity (especially at the front) that you're all of a sudden fair game. Well newsflash, knobbers.... We aren't!’
Well done to Slaves for helping spread that message to their fans…let’s hope other bands - regardless of blokeiness - can express a similar sentiment and venues train their security guards to treat this sort of stuff seriously. After all, regardless of who or what you're dressing up like (we've a feeling Paul Gascoigne's on a mood-board somewhere), allowing perverts who wait until they’re crammed in a moshpit at your gig is a pretty grim look.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.