Faced with sexual violence, festivals set up brigades

It was news that rocked metal festival attendees: In 2019, a young woman took to social media after being raped at Hellfest, seeking information about her attacker.

For those who visit festivals and concerts, acts of sexist and sexual violence are common.

From hands to buttocks during a crowd movement, inappropriate gestures under the excuse of alcohol or drugs, insults, even sexual assault or rape:

are not exempt from the violence present in the rest of society.

Except that for several years, under the impetus of #MeToo and the liberation of speech, festivals have tackled the problem head-on, and have tried to combine prevention and solutions to make their events

.

Last weekend, when the Hellfest resumed its rights after two years of pandemic in Clisson, in Loire-Atlantique, a brand new brigade surveyed the festival: the Hell'Watch, clear t-shirts bearing the image of a valkyrie, watched the grain.

In addition to this brigade, festival-goers had access to the Safer application, which makes it possible to report in real time inappropriate words or acts, whether they are victims or witnesses.

The team of around sixty volunteers is led by David Alglave, a psychologist at the University Hospital of Angers, specializing in the reception of victims and a Hellfest volunteer for ten years.

“The production wanted to set up a team led by a professional.

I recruited volunteers among my psychology students, accustomed to welcoming victims;

but also shrink colleagues,” he explains.

The Hellwatch are on the job, this sexist and sexual violence prevention brigade crisscrosses the festival @hellfestopenair pic.twitter.com/D8ccNWUMk5

— Julie Charrier (@juliecharrier44) June 18, 2022

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Already in 2019, Marsatac paved the way

“It is a tool of benevolence that people are welcomed at the festival as they are, and that they are respected,” develops Béatrice Desgranges, holder of a mandate for gender equality within the Union of contemporary music ( SMA) and director of the Marseille festival Marsatac.

According to her, the contemporary music sector has always dealt with the issue of risk prevention, from the consumption of alcohol or narcotics to hearing protection.

"It is part of our work to support the public to provide answers, we have a responsibility as organizers" she adds.

At the local level, the Marsatac festival took up the subject in 2018, in collaboration with the CIDFF (Information Center on the Rights of Women and Families), as part of the campaign "Violence, I'm leaving you".

with the presence of a CIDFF psychologist, to start raising awareness among festival-goers and volunteer teams.

During the year 2020, while the festivals are not taking place, “reflection infuses within our teams” says Béatrice Desgranges.

Safer is created, a 360° device, both through its application (which makes it possible to alert festival-goers to inappropriate acts and remarks), a training and awareness-raising system for volunteers, and a resource website on issues of consent and sexist and sexual violence at festivals.

“It's a device developed and thought out for the benefit of other festivals: if we had this need, the others had it too” adds the director of Marsatac.

The 2021 edition of the Marseille festival incorporates this device, in the form of a full-scale test, and is set up in other festivals that summer, such as

Montpellier.

"This made it possible to see the different geographical conditions and places, the different audiences, to be as representative as possible" develops Béatrice Desgranges.

With feedback from the 2021 edition, the team is improving the app and training devices for winter 2021. As the sun peeks out and the main summer festivals are in full swing, the Safer device is developing on more and more scenes.

Raise awareness, prevent and report

For David Alglave, the implementation of this system also makes it possible to highlight resources so that everyone feels invested in the fight against gender-based and sexual violence.

Because in festivals, beyond the festive framework, the moments of crowd and a certain promiscuity in the concerts can make the identification of the aggressors complex.

“We had a lot of positive feedback from festival-goers on this first weekend of Hellfest.

The idea is to remind by our presence that we exist, and that these issues are real,” adds the psychologist.

Béatrice Desgranges also saw the difference with Safer: for the 2022 edition of Marsatac, the application was downloaded more than 3,500 times.

“Having a

and a marauding makes us visible and it creates a lot of dialogue around these issues,” she says.

In addition to protecting the public, these patrols would have a deterrent effect on the perpetrators of violence.

"This is undeniably reassuring, the festival-goers felt heard, in a benevolent setting" adds the director of Marsatac.

What assessment for Safer?

The device is less than a year and a half old, and despite the lack of hindsight, David Alglave and Béatrice Desgranges intend to continue to improve the training of volunteers and the application, to be as effective as possible.

“After the first Hellfest weekend, we can readjust the system.

For the moment we see inappropriate behavior, touching, people taking advantage of the promiscuity of the front stages to have inappropriate contact.

In addition, we are thinking about other signage so that people can see us better,” explains David Alglave.

For this second weekend of Hellfest, the Hell'Watch teams should be denser, posted in strategic places.

Help desks at aid stations will be added to receive the public, both victims and witnesses.

As Béatrice Desgranges explains, the Safer system and marauding cannot be a miracle solution to the problem of sexual and gender-based violence at festivals.

“It takes commitment.

If the festival is not sincerely committed, it won't be able to work.

You cannot stick a bandage on a wooden leg,” she adds, recalling that Safer remains a tool.

Other festivals are beginning to take up these methods, such as Solidays, which opens this weekend, and will deploy marauders.

Solidays is a joyful and benevolent festival.

We make sure he stays that way.👇 pic.twitter.com/lJykTfrpEI

— Solidays Festival (@Solidays) June 22, 2022

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Béatrice Desgranges tells us that “every day, festivals come to see us to set up Safer”.

Les Déferlantes in Perpignan, Musilac in Aix-les-Bains or Les Vieilles Charrues have thus chosen to develop the system on their events.

A real paradigm shift, so that music is enjoyed by everyone, without the risk of violence.

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• Violence against women