My kickoff into the EDM world came about when I was in 8th grade and my parents decided to take me to Coachella. For years they had asked me to go, but I would complain about how boring it looked, which was probably just my LA privilege talking. But they finally convinced me to attend, and everyone told me to go see someone named Skrillex. I referred to him as “Squirrel X” for most of the festival, reluctantly embarrassing myself with whomever I talked too.
But I got to see this “Squirrel X” man and my mind was blown from how cool and innovative his set was. When I got home I instantly started to look up music videos from him. The first one that really caught my eye was “First of the Year (Equinox)”. If you have not watched it I highly suggest taking a look below.
As an 8th grader and becoming the age where my daily strolls were met with cat calls, and older men trying to talk to me, this video showed me a side of myself that existed but could never be real. The video not only empowered me but also gave me a voice and a picture of the emotions I felt of being a young girl and sexually fetishsized.
As I became more absorbed in the world of EDM and grew a little older I started to attend dance festivals. Quickly I noticed something widely different from the environment of Coachella compared to Hard Summer, and EDC. It was the people. Coachella was brimming with beautiful mostly white women, who were skinny and dressed head to toe in designer wear. While EDM events hosted a plethora of contrasting women who were different classes, races, and sizes. There also wasn’t this sense of privilege and competition at these dance festivals that was always present at Coachella. The liberating and freeing environment of EDM is achieved through ideas like PLUR, and I think this breeds genuinely kinder men and women. I love rocking my “Third Wave Feminist” outfits to dance festivals because I can wear whatever I want, no matter how much skin I show, and feel comfortable and accepted by all those around me who are doing the same.
EDM continues to make music videos that voices emotions and feelings of women that are erased from our society. For instance 3LAU’s “How You Love Me” which is down below, displays a supernatural woman, who uses her power to condemn a boy who is cheating on her. How hardcore is that? I’m sure there are number women who watched this video as I did and just thought “Hell Yeah”.
Now I know that for every empowering video that women get in EDM there are hundreds of “Bubble Butt” videos. But I think it’s important to high-light all intentions that artists try to bring forth in this genre.
Read more about Gender Equality in EDM here.
