Stamping out sexual assault at gigs: “Make your voice heard and show solidarity”

Sprints frontwoman Karla Chubb has spoken to NME about her recent ordeal of being sexually assaulted at one of the band’s shows, as the organisation Girls Against share advice for other victims and bystanders with a view to stamping out groping at gigs.

Last week, Chubb took to social media to share that she’d had the “abhorrent” experience of being sexually assaulted for a second time at a gig – telling fans: “Female performers should be able to engage with their audience, step off the stage or perform without fear of groping, unwanted touching, cat-calling and harassment. The fact that this is still an everyday occurrence for most women is beyond reprehensible”.

The Dublin band have been on the road throughout 2024 in support of their acclaimed debut album ‘Letter To Self‘. Last month saw them play a sold-out show in Heaven in London where Chubb took the opportunity to pay tribute to the “beautiful queer space” of the venue and speak out for equality. The group’s standing as a “pretty inclusive and a very vocal band” is what has made the assaults all the more shocking, as Chubb explained.

“It was just shock initially,” she told NME. “I was talking to the guys in the green room and it hit me that it wasn’t normal. The next day, I woke up and I was pretty angry. The more I started to think about it, the more I started to realise I needed to say something because it’s just not OK that it happens to women at all  – let alone at the endemic level that it does across the music industry.

“Then I started to notice bruising. Things like that make you feel vindicated at how serious it was.”

After making her statement, Chubb said that “a tonne of artists reached out” to show support and that similar things had happened to them.

“The solidarity has been really good, but it really opened my eyes to how uniform this experience is,” said Chubb. “It’s always happening to performers across the world.

“Part of the fun of our shows is engaging the audience and involving them in the music. Our whole performance style is cathartic, and you don’t want to lose that at the shows. This happened when the show was over and I was walking away. I had to walk through the crowd to get to the green room, as you often do, and it was unavoidable to have to walk that way. I was just trying to exit the stage when it happened.”

She added: “Do you just deal with that, or just accept the fact that you’re going to be vulnerable all the time?”

Admitting that venues and security tend to take such events seriously and deal with them the best they can given limited resources, Chubb said that more needed to be done in terms of education and altering attitudes in the wider music scene and industry.

“If you look at the Misogyny In Music report that was carried out in January but recently declined by the government to take on any recommendations, that shows that the issue isn’t considered serious enough to deal with,” she said.

“I don’t blame the venues; they’re just doing the best they can, but it’s the people in power who have the money and ability to put systems in place to stop this, but they’re continuing to ignore us.”

Chubb noted how it was “pretty shocking” that her assault and the Misogyny In Music report being rejected happened within a few days of one another.

“Some of the findings were really easy to implement – like removing NDAs so perpetrators aren’t being protected and the victim is being helped,” she said. “Public shaming puts many people off from reporting atrocities. Why are we still keeping those protections in place? It just means people in power can stay protected. The victims have to carry guilt and shame with them forever when they haven’t done anything wrong.”

While noticing a “rise of very anti-women content online”, Chubb said she felt “incredibly fortunate to have a lot of good men around me and a lot of support in the band, our management and our team” – but that “there’s definitely more than needs to be done in education to ensure we raise more people like that.”

Her advice to anyone who might witness sexual assault at a show was simple: “I would make sure that you tell someone”.

“What’s been very comforting and vindicating was people coming to me to say, ‘I saw this happen to you’. It’s really important to be vocal about that, because there’s a lot of fear when coming forward that people are going to speculate, deny, twist their own narrative, or minimise what happened,” she said. “It’s important to make your voice heard and show solidarity.”

And for those who might fall victim to assault at gigs, she advised: “Just be open as you feel comfortable with. Talking about it has been tough but made it easier to process.

“If I’d internalised it, it would appeared in other ways. I control the story, I control the narrative, and I can remove whatever power and shame he might have had.”

Girls Against are a non-profit organisation who advise who “stand up against sexual assault and misogyny in the live music scene” and “build valuable educational resources, safe spaces and inclusivity” for gigs and festivals.

Speaking to NME, a spokesperson expressed “the sincerest solidarity with Karla and the rest of Sprints in speaking out against the sexual harassment and groping she has faced at her own live gigs, as a woman artist”.

“Sadly, this level of behaviour is still all too common, which is why we must continue to speak out against misogyny and sexual violence at gigs, and within the music industry at large,” the continued.

“As outlined within the band’s statement, speaking out as a bystander in these situations is incredibly important in making a clear stand against sexual violence, and promoting community care within the music scene.

“Although speaking out as a bystander can oftentimes be scary and intimidating, particularly if you yourself are a marginalised person, there are many methods of intervention which are non-confrontational, such as distraction techniques. You can read more about suggested bystander intervention techniques here in our Bystander Booklet.”

The key advice for bystanders by Girls Against is to remember the acronym ‘D.I.S.H.’:

• Do whatever feels right for you: “If you see something you feel uncomfortable with, assess the situation. Is it safe for you to step in? Do you feel comfortable stepping in?”
• Intervene if you feel confident doing so: “This could be pretending to be a friend of the victim, or directly calling out the perpetrator. We would recommend not putting yourself in any danger if possible.”
• Suggest reporting the issue to security or a member of staff: “We always recommend reporting the assault, however if you have contact with the victim it’s always good to ask them first. If the perpetrator can be identified it’s good to report their details as soon as possible so they can be removed from the venue.”
• Have solidarity with the victim: “The most important thing is to check that the victim is ok, support them with whatever decision they make about their next steps. Suggesting options to them may be helpful if they are in a distressed state. Encouragement for reporting is suggested but they should never be forced.”

Speaking out on the recent rejection of the recommendations made within the Misogyny In Music’ report, Girls Against said that they were “saddened and disappointed, but quite frankly, not at all surprised”.

“The findings of the report expertly drew together many years of well documented lived experiences of misogyny within the music industry, which organisations such as ourselves and Good Night Out, as well as many thousands of brave individuals, have been speaking out against for several decades,” they said.

“The governmental recommendations outlined within the report were highly achievable and actionable. The government’s failure, therefore, to implement any of these recommendations once again highlights a lack of prioritisation for the safety and care of marginalised and underrepresented groups within our society.”

Girls Against added: “In an industry with such an endemic and deep-rooted culture of misogyny, gender-based discrimination, and gender-based violence, ‘hopes and expectations’ that ‘relevant industry bodies will carefully consider any recommendations’, without the legal imperative and/or financial recourse to do so, will achieve nothing.”

Speaking to NME last year ahead of Reading & Leeds festival, director of Safe Gigs For Women Mel Kelly said that it was important to “speak to people about how to keep themselves and others safe in crowds”.

“In particular, if you see someone experiencing what appears to be sexual assault or sexual harassment, but also generally how to look after each other. We do that by teaching active by-standing,” said Kelly. “We give people concrete strategies on what to do. We talk about the four Ds. One of those is distraction.

“My big trick is to go up to someone and speak to the person who’s having the problem – never the person who’s causing the problem. I might go up to them and say, ‘Here’s this tampon you wanted earlier, I see that the line for the loos is short, do you want to go?’ That gives them the opportunity to get out of the situation quite safely. They could say, ‘I’ve never met you before, who are you?’ In which case I’m embarrassed, but that’s fine.”

She continued: “The other thing we teach is delegation. One of my very good friends is a musician and he’s almost six foot five. He doesn’t want to walk over to a situation like that because he thinks it could just end in aggression. He might get his much smaller girlfriend to go over and employ the same strategy: ‘Oh goodness, didn’t we go to school together? You should come away’.

“Another is a direct intervention, which we don’t necessarily advocate for at a busy [gig or festival], but if the situation warrants, ‘What are you doing?’ That kind of thing.

“Finally if you’ve heard about it second-hand and there’s been a delay – the final D – you do what you can, help document the situation, help them take pictures or get [support].”