Conceptualising safety and crime at UK music festivals

Bows, Hannah; King, Hannah; Measham, Fiona

doi:10.4324/9780429344893-7

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Drawing on data from a larger study exploring the extent, nature, scope, and responses to sexual violence at UK music festivals (Bows et al, 2020(Bows et al, , 2022, this article focuses on qualitative interviews undertaken with 13 victim-survivors of unwanted sexual attention at festivals. As this part of the study focused on subjective, situated experiences of sexual violence, an inductive, qualitative approach was adopted.…”

Section: The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the survey findings and media reports give some indication of the extent of sexual harassment and assault at festivals, there are major gaps in knowledge about the prevalence, nature, experiences, and responses to sexual violence. This article presents data from the first UK study to explore women's experiences of sexual violence at UK music festivals, contributing to the small but growing body of literature in this area (Aborisade, 2021;Baillie et al, 2021;Bows et al, 2020Bows et al, , 2022Fileborn et al, 2020) and to the broader literature on gendered experiences of leisure spaces (Aitchison, 1999;Green & Singleton, 2006;Gunby et al, 2020;Hill et al, 2020;Stevenson, 2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

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“It's Like a Drive by Misogyny”: Sexual Violence at UK Music Festivals

Bows

Day

Dhir

2022

Violence Against Women

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Despite increasing scholarly and media attention on sexual violence in public spaces, including those associated with the night-time economy and licensed venues, music festivals have been largely absent from research and policy. This paper presents the findings from the first UK study of sexual violence at music festivals, drawing on data from interviews with 13 women who have experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault at a festival. Analysis reveals that sexual violence at festivals occurs on a continuum and represents an extension of rape culture through which sexual violence is culturally condoned and normalized, enabled through a number of environmental and culture features that are unique to festivals.

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Section: The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“It's Like a Drive by Misogyny”: Sexual Violence at UK Music Festivals

Bows

Day

Dhir

2022

Violence Against Women

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“…They found that drug and alcohol consumption and overcrowding were the factors participants most associated with feeling unsafe at a festival, and such experiences profoundly affect women's ability to fully participate in music festivals. A study by Durham Law School found that more women than men are concerned about sexual harassment and safety at festivals (Marsh, 2018; Bows et al , 2020). Some festivals have responded to the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault (and ensuing negative media coverage) by having women-only areas and other segregationist strategies (Beaumont-Thomas, 2017).…”

Section: Events As Gendered Spaces and Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Doing gender” in critical event studies: a dual agenda for research

Dashper

Finkel

2020

IJEFM

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PurposeTo introduce critical gender theory to events studies and set an agenda for research in this area. This paper focuses on various contexts, approaches and applications for “doing gender” in critical event studies. It draws upon interdisciplinary frameworks to develop robust theoretical ways of interrogating issues related to power and structural inequalities in events contexts.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual discussion of “doing gender” and critical gender theory and review of relevant research in this area within event studies. Adopting feminist and intersectional perspectives and applying them to events environments has potential to inform current theoretical developments and wider sector practices, and, ultimately, change the dominant heteronormative patriarchal paradigm of the experiential landscape.FindingsEvent studies has been slow to engage with gender theory and gender-aware research, to the detriment of theoretical and practical development within the field.Research limitations/implicationsA call for more gender-aware research within event studies. The goal of this paper is to galvanise gender-aware events research to centralise the marginalised and amplify feminist voices in critical event studies. Feminist and gender-aware frameworks encourage researchers to be critical and to question the underlying power structures and discourses that shape practices, behaviours and interactions. This creates new pathways to find ways to overcome inequalities, which can improve overall events praxis.Originality/valueThe paper introduces critical gender theory as a fruitful framework for future events research. It is an under-researched area of study, representing a significant gap in ways of theorising and representing different aspects of events. We argue it is imperative that researchers take up the challenge of incorporating feminist and/or gender-aware frameworks within their research as a matter of routine.

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Feeling Safe While Having Fun? Review of Experienced Safety and Fear of Crime at Events and Festivals

Spithoven,

Brands

2024

Smart Urban Safety and Security

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Events and festivals are big business. Despite differences, the overall goal of providing visitors with a positive experience and making a profit for the organization of the event or festival is the same. As clear liminal settings, events and festivals trigger the experience of freedom among visitors, but research also indicates that this comes at a price of heightened risk of, for example, ‘(...) pickpockets, sexual assault, and terrorist attacks (...)’ (Hoover et al., The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien 66:202, 2022). At the same time, there is little research attention for how such risks of crime victimization are experienced, and how safe people feel at events and festivals more generally. This is somewhat surprising because, in general, safety is considered to be crucial to the success of (semi)public spaces and people’s willingness to frequent these. One could hypothesize a similar importance to event and festival settings (Dewilde et al. Journal of Peace Education 18:163–181, 2021) and some authors (Pivac et al. Journal of the Geographical Institute “Jovan Cvijić” SASA 69:123–134, 2019; Barker et al., Journal of Travel Research 41:355–361, 2003) claim the experience of safety to be crucial for the future of events. In this chapter we will explore what is special and (potentially) unsafe about events and festivals and review what is known about event and festival visitors’ fear of crime and explanatory factors. Findings are contrasted with knowledge from the general fear of crime literature. In doing so, we pay special attention to gender differences in the experience of fear of crime at events and festivals, the role of environmental factors, and the role of surveillance and policing.Based on our exposition, it follows that there clearly is no one-size-fits-all solution for the prevention of fear of crime at events and festivals, and a practical approach has to be based on tailor-made analyses for specific events and festivals. Increased security and surveillance are not per se the answer to fear of crime at events and festivals; in particular circumstances these might even alarm visitors about the risks of crime victimization, affecting their experienced safety in a negative way. It can also be questioned to what extent such an approach is sensitive to recognizing and addressing the (perceived) threat of sexual harassment and violence, which the literature we reviewed consistently conveys as a specific and pressing risk at events and festivals, especially to women. A way forward could be raising awareness of sexual violence and harassment among visitors, staff, and organizers of events and festivals. We would also argue monitoring perceived risk of different types of victimization (among which sexual harassment and violence) could be expanded using different techniques, such as app-based measurements of real-time experience of safety. In general, it seems that the prevention of fear of crime at events and festivals needs a bottom-up, tailor-made approach, in which technological solutions may play a role but should not be considered a one-size-fix-all.

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Conceptualising safety and crime at UK music festivals

Cited by 4 publications

References 38 publications

“It's Like a Drive by Misogyny”: Sexual Violence at UK Music Festivals

“It's Like a Drive by Misogyny”: Sexual Violence at UK Music Festivals

“Doing gender” in critical event studies: a dual agenda for research

Feeling Safe While Having Fun? Review of Experienced Safety and Fear of Crime at Events and Festivals

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