12 votes

'Shocking' level of sexual harassment at music festivals

5 comments

  1. nacho
    Link
    Shocking but not surprising at all. If you've ever been sober at a music festival, the harassment you just casually see walking around not even looking for it is more than enough to make you want...

    Shocking but not surprising at all.

    If you've ever been sober at a music festival, the harassment you just casually see walking around not even looking for it is more than enough to make you want to be not-sober.

    7 votes
  2. [4]
    matjojo
    Link
    Is this really a surprise to anyone? Festivals here in the Netherlands are for the full 100% known as drug fests as well as music festivals. It has gone so far that even some people in our politic...

    Is this really a surprise to anyone? Festivals here in the Netherlands are for the full 100% known as drug fests as well as music festivals. It has gone so far that even some people in our politic centres have claimed that some 'party drugs' are okay and should be okay. I find that idea alone ridiculous, and this article does shows very clearly part of the reason why I find that a bad idea.

    4 votes
    1. [3]
      Gaywallet
      Link Parent
      Honestly I blame alcohol more than most of the typical festival drugs. While I'm sure it's happened, it wouldn't surprise me if an entactogen like MDMA actually decreased someone's likelihood of...

      Honestly I blame alcohol more than most of the typical festival drugs. While I'm sure it's happened, it wouldn't surprise me if an entactogen like MDMA actually decreased someone's likelihood of sexually harassing someone else because it increases your ability to emphatize with them.

      I wonder what the sexual harassment figures look like at bars or other places where heavy drinking and dancing takes place. Probably pretty similar...

      5 votes
      1. [2]
        matjojo
        Link Parent
        I have very limited firsthand experience with drugs, but I know people and have watched documentaries from pro-drugs and con-drugs organisations in order try and form a balanced opinion. I dislike...

        I have very limited firsthand experience with drugs, but I know people and have watched documentaries from pro-drugs and con-drugs organisations in order try and form a balanced opinion.

        I dislike the idea of drugs for any hallucinatory or enhancing purposes because they change the way you gather your sense-data. Because of the changes in the sense-data and the fact that they often change up your inhibitors I feel like drugs are a problem for festivals. But I do agree with you that alcohol is probably used more in those types of establishments compared to drugs, so in total alcohol might be a bigger problem.

        2 votes
        1. Gaywallet
          Link Parent
          It's interesting that the most abused and most regulated drugs are ones that modify our perceptions. There are plenty of drugs that don't modify our senses, and yet for the most part they do not...

          It's interesting that the most abused and most regulated drugs are ones that modify our perceptions. There are plenty of drugs that don't modify our senses, and yet for the most part they do not get abused (one notable exception being steroids, albeit it may affect mood).

          Interestingly enough, it's not the modification of your senses that makes a drug dangerous or costly to society. It's the drugs that modify our inhibitions; the drugs that make us more or less likely to act in ways we don't normally act are the ones that cause people to sexually harass, rob, cheat, steal, or otherwise commit acts against society that cost us.

          Curiously enough there are a variety of drugs that modify our inhibitions but do not affect our senses such as anti-depressive drugs, very mild anxiolytics, certain nootropics and more - yet they do not cause problems for society either.

          I suppose it's some combination of modifying our sensory input and changing our inhibitions that causes a drug to be costly. Or perhaps it's simply because these drugs are well known and readily available and it's just a matter of statistics that some people will respond in a negative or costly way and that if say, nootropics (or other inhibition changing drugs that are not sensory modifying), were more common we'd see something similar.

          3 votes