Hundreds of women have signed an open letter to the Australian music industry that gathers stories of sexual harassment and demands change. Signatories include musicians like Courtney Barnett, managers, lawyers, booking agents, record label employees, publicists, journalists, and more. It follows a similar open letter signed by over 2,000 women in Sweden’s music industry that precipitated the firing of a top executive at Warner Music Sweden for sexual misconduct.
The letter, first published by The Industry Observer, calls for accountability:
Together, we give a voice to these issues and demand zero tolerance for sexual harassment, violence, objectification and sexist behaviours. There is no place for sexual entitlement in the workplace and in our industry. Change starts today.
We have listened to our friends. We have names of perpetrators. We know the same names that are repeated in unrelated circles. It saddens us that the people who hold us in fear and keep us silenced are people we work with, people who many of us have aspired to work under, and people who some of us have known as friends. These people need to be held accountable.
The letter shares 14 anonymous stories of harassment, from groping and unsolicited sexts, to forced sexual acts and non-disclosure agreements. Authors, taking inspiration from the #MeToo campaign, titled the letter #meNOmore.
“We all have our own stories, or know someone who does. We are not whingers or vibe-killers. We are passionate people dedicating our lives to music,” the letter states. “In the face of uncountable discrimination, harassment, violence, and the general menace of sexist jargon, we have gritted our teeth and gotten on with the job. But today we say, no more.”
You can read the full letter here.
