This post, like our last, does give me a glimmer of hope. People in our scenes are speaking out more regularly against rape. More work exists to be done.
As many rivet heads with an interest in social justice or feminism may already know, Combichrist has never been a friend to women. With songs like "Shut Up and Swallow" and videos like "Throat Full of Glass," they have made it to this blog more - than - once as well as other - blogs.
Blood on the Dance Floor, however, is a band newer to me. I'm old and out of the loop as far as shows and music go. Aside from their unacceptably bad music, they are very bad people. Research quickly led me to an entire tumblr page dedicated to exposing the singer, Dahvie, and his misconduct. Dahvie is apparently a child rapist at best. Fucking hell. I didn't know it could get worse. But it usually does.
The strange thing is, avid Combichrist fans spoke out against this, prompting Combichrist to draft a response saying they had no idea about the "controversy," regarding BOTDF. They released BOTDF from their tour. This is a strange but acceptable move in the right direction. You can promote rape and dudebro shit in your videos and you can create an unsafe atmosphere for women in our scenes and at your shows, but if the singer from another group actually assaults an 11 year old girl, well we draw the line there. It's something I guess...
There is a problem, though. Our culture speaks out against those who are a 9 or 10 out of 10 on the rape culture scale, rather than those who are a 4 or a 5- who make up most of the misogynistic shit we see out there- even though all of them are big players in the game of misogyny. They have ruined industrial and goth scenes both in integrity of music, space for rebellion and new performance art, and most of all, safety.
Let's not forget these wise words from Combichrist: "All teen school girls you know that you want it. Give head if you got it." Seems like a lyric that is right up Dahvie's alley.
Just the other day I was telling someone how goth/industrial nights used to be one of the few places I felt safe in the world. They are not anymore.
There are those of us not so easily fooled that Combichrist, who has inspired performances by artists opening for them because of their misogyny, is suddenly such a supporter of those who speak out against it... even if an interview at idieyoudie with Andy shows that there was some ignorance in his intent. Then, after that interview, this video came out, showing me he is still very ignorant about the sexism in his "art", though at least they aren't stripping girls down and sexually assaulting them in "Maggots at the Party." They just have them there making out and flashing their tits for the drunken cool dudes with hispter moustaches. I didn't have the energy to analyze the video more then, and I don't now. (Though I do love a good cop-donut joke, I admit). Another recent interview I found still shows that Andy believes that his misogynistic shit is not actually misogynistic, it's sarcasm! Songs like "Give Head if You've Got It" and "This Shit will Fuck You Up" were not about sex and calling women whores was totally not misogyny- it's metaphor! Uh huh....
HOWEVER, I do very much appreciate the fast response to not touring with a child rapist. Kudos for that. Can we please pull that energy into not promoting violence against women in your own art? Challenge that shit everywhere.
You've made a good move. Now is time to make several more.
Thank you for writing this. Sure any women would get turn on to hear "Hope you get it in your throat, hope you gag and choke your pale little face turning blue". Well, that's rape culture, Andy: now shut up and fuck off. Can't believe guys like Rammstein and especially KMFDM who claims to be against any kind of oppression toured with Combichrist.
ReplyDeleteAhh yes... I've heard LOTS about BOTDF. The creepiest part is that a lot of their scene kid fanbase is underage. I'm not going to pat combichrist on the back though. By the way I was wondering if you could do a sort of masterlist post about what industrial bands have good track records with this stuff. I'm always trying to look for new bands but the question in my head always comes up "are they nazis...?" I adore this blog, as I've said before <3
ReplyDeleteThanks! Hmmm, I don't really have a list per say. I kind of write about things when they come up for me and surely miss many many others. It might work better for you to post asking about bands you are curious about and I can do the research. Thanks again!
DeleteI've only started hearing about BOTDF lately, some before they were dropped from the Combichrist tour and some afterwards. They really do not have a good reputation at all. Not sure why CC took them on in the first place without a bit of background checking, then run their findings past BOTDF and see if the facade cracks.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't hold my breath about CC speaking up against violence against women anytime soon. I feel Andy is too deep in what he does and doesn't understand how deep he's in it to start going back and take the opposite stance. I feel in all probability that the best we can hope for is something of a neutral stance where he doesn't bring it up at all a la Icon of Coil. Bit of a shame really.