Stop saying there isn’t a strong female presence in dance music

Electronic music does not lack talented women. It lacks men who acknowledge their presence. Structural inequality within our industry casts an oppressive shadow over female visibility.

Men will presume that the gender ratio in the electronic music industry is 80:20, which is what they think explains why, for instance, festival line-ups are so male-dominated. But as gender parity becomes an increasingly pressing issue, collectives like Brooklyn's Discwoman, Germany's Female:Pressure and Toronto’s Work In Progress are proving just how many cis women, trans women and non binary artists there are in electronic music. And switched-on festivals like Montreal’s MUTEK and Detroit’s Movement are making impressive strides towards the kind of diversity that should be uniform on all event line-ups. Hard to believe there are as few non-male artists as the dance music bros think there are, right?

It’s a shame that major figures like Seth Troxler continuously plead ignorance rather than advocate for inclusivity. And it’s very telling that Konstantin revealed in an interview with Groove that he believes that women are “disproportionately promoted” in the industry and “usually worse at DJing than men”. His label, Giegling, has released 56 records, none of which have been produced by female or female-identifying artists (though women are part of the wider Giegling collective).

In a feeble attempt to put things right, Konstantin’s “apology” resorted to blaming journalist Laura Aha, claiming she did not appreciate his “bad sense of humour” and “habit of taking opposite positions to challenge people”. Seems he doesn’t think women make great journalists, either.

Remarks akin to Konstantin's receive widespread backlash for more their blatant misogyny and reflect outdated ideals that are being held onto, in fear of women (or anyone who isn’t a straight white dude) actually turning the dance music boys club upside down. What’s going to happen when bro culture is disassembled and it’s no longer acceptable to shove women into the bracket marked “inferior”? This threatens the dance music hierarchy and the male dominance of the industry.

Women and other marginalised groups are shaping the future of the electronic music industry. They’re rejecting the sexualized tropes they’ve been force-fed through commercial EDM culture, and redirecting the focus back to where it belongs: the music. Things like UMFANG’s Technofeminism showcase at Bossa Nova Civic Club, The Black Madonna’s DAPHNE programming and the rise of such artists as Charlotte de Witte, Avalon Emerson, Julia Govor, Octo Octa and Peggy Gou mark a perspective that is squaring up to the heteronormative ideals of electronic music and changing things for the better, DJ set by DJ set, party by party.

When these groups tackle matters of diversity in electronic music culture, the scene embraces the ethos of acceptance that lies at its roots. The work they’re doing is for the benefit of their communities but also the whole of dance music. Because in an ideal world, archaic gender divisions would not exist behind the turntables or on the dancefloor.

Check out The Black Madonna’s feature on the 20 most important women in electronic music here.

[Photo: Luke Dyson for Data Transmission]

Corinne Przybyslawski is a freelance writer. Follow her on Twitter