TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender minorities at music festivals
AU - Kinnunen, Maarit
AU - Honkanen, Antti
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, Maarit Kinnunen and Antti Honkanen.
PY - 2025/1/1
Y1 - 2025/1/1
N2 - Purpose: The purpose was to examine the prevalence and type of inappropriate behaviour gender minorities face and how they perceive such behaviour. The study is framed within Gidley et al.’s social inclusion model, indicating areas where actions are needed to avoid social exclusion. Design/methodology/approach: The research data comprised over 12,000 responses to a web survey, which included 184 responses from gender minority members and four in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using statistical methods and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: About 59% of gender minority members had experienced inappropriate behaviour, compared to 34% of female festival attendees. The most common form of inappropriate behaviour towards gender minorities was harassment because of gender, followed by sexual harassment, physically threatening situations and harassment because of appearance or clothing. Interviews were analysed against the theoretical framework of social inclusion, determining how the experiences influenced access, participation and empowerment. Practical implications: Festivals must have unisex toilets. Safer space policies should be better communicated, more visible and more practical. Instead of having one harassment contact person, there should be a whole team. Training the festival personnel, particularly the security staff, is highly important. People are reluctant to report problems to the security personnel since those personnel might be part of the problem. There should be members of gender minorities among performers, workers, security staff and volunteers. Originality/value: Studies on inappropriate behaviour at festivals have concentrated on female experiences of sexual harassment. Gender minorities have hardly been studied, even though they face more inappropriate behaviour than any other minority group. Furthermore, gender minorities are typically grouped with sexual minorities even though their experiences differ from one another. We applied Gidley et al.’s hierarchical model of social inclusion to gender minority members in the context of music festivals. In doing so, we added knowledge of attitudes and practices that reduce and endanger feelings of access, participation and empowerment.
AB - Purpose: The purpose was to examine the prevalence and type of inappropriate behaviour gender minorities face and how they perceive such behaviour. The study is framed within Gidley et al.’s social inclusion model, indicating areas where actions are needed to avoid social exclusion. Design/methodology/approach: The research data comprised over 12,000 responses to a web survey, which included 184 responses from gender minority members and four in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using statistical methods and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: About 59% of gender minority members had experienced inappropriate behaviour, compared to 34% of female festival attendees. The most common form of inappropriate behaviour towards gender minorities was harassment because of gender, followed by sexual harassment, physically threatening situations and harassment because of appearance or clothing. Interviews were analysed against the theoretical framework of social inclusion, determining how the experiences influenced access, participation and empowerment. Practical implications: Festivals must have unisex toilets. Safer space policies should be better communicated, more visible and more practical. Instead of having one harassment contact person, there should be a whole team. Training the festival personnel, particularly the security staff, is highly important. People are reluctant to report problems to the security personnel since those personnel might be part of the problem. There should be members of gender minorities among performers, workers, security staff and volunteers. Originality/value: Studies on inappropriate behaviour at festivals have concentrated on female experiences of sexual harassment. Gender minorities have hardly been studied, even though they face more inappropriate behaviour than any other minority group. Furthermore, gender minorities are typically grouped with sexual minorities even though their experiences differ from one another. We applied Gidley et al.’s hierarchical model of social inclusion to gender minority members in the context of music festivals. In doing so, we added knowledge of attitudes and practices that reduce and endanger feelings of access, participation and empowerment.
KW - Musiikkifestivaalit
KW - sukupuolivähemmistöt
KW - Epäasiallinen käytös
KW - gender identity
KW - gender minorities
KW - harassment
KW - inclusivity
KW - music festivals
KW - social inclusion
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U2 - 10.1108/IJEFM-07-2024-0079
DO - 10.1108/IJEFM-07-2024-0079
M3 - Article
SN - 1758-2954
JO - International Journal of Event and Festival Management
JF - International Journal of Event and Festival Management
ER -