Max HeyraudBear In Mind have been at the forefront for tackling important subjects in electronic music such as equality in the industry, mental health, drug use and more. Tonight Pauly Doyle will host a panel on speakers live on Zoom to speak about equality, safety and representation for women In electronic music culture in Ireland.
Bear in mind is an Irish wellbeing collective specifically set up to target mental health control within the creative industry in Ireland. Bear in mind is also passionate about happy festival-goers. Their aim is to promote and encourage, personal training both physical and mental, and other well-being related activities for artists and festival staff so we can continue to have a long, strong, and vibrant and healthy entertainment scene right here in Ireland for many years to come.
Calls for equality throughout the industry have been beckoning for years but in recent times clubs and festivals have really started to take equality in their bookings seriously. We have seen a far better ratio of women to their male counterparts on festival and club show lineups here in Ireland. While we still have a long way to go, since returning from the pandemic I think most promoters, DJs and punters are far more aware of the gender gap within dance music and the topic is spoken far more openly.
Equality in dance music does go further than simply have a better ratio in terms of lineups. It’s a much deeper subject in Ireland and internationally, dance music in many ways especially in Ireland has been seen through a male lens for a very long time which meant it was difficult and intimidating for women to break into the industry as it was mostly male dominated.
Safety for women has also always been a big concern in dance music and unfortunately continues to be just as big of a concern as it was two decades ago. Spiking and sexual harassment is rampant throughout nightclubs and dance music culture. Recent spiking concerns in Ireland have prompted more vocalisation about the topic and how it can be tackled. The fact is that it’s not a concern for males, I haven’t seen one spiking incident happen to a male. It’s also seldom to hear of a male being sexually harassed on a trip to a nightclub but on the flip side I rarely go to a nightclub without hearing a female complain about some sort of sexual harassment.
These topics will be spoken more in detail with host Pauly Doyle as he’s joined by Shaun Darcy, Kate Butler, Jess Tillion.
You can find the link to the zoom over at the Bear In Mind instagram at 7pm here.