Music is loved by everyone around the world, and people often like to celebrate their love of good music and the artists who create the art by going to concerts. People go to concerts to have a good time, enjoy some songs, and hang out with their friends – not to be sexually assaulted.
Unfortunately, even places as pleasant as concert grounds are not immune to the occurrence of sexual assault and harassment. Recently, the British metal band, Architects, performed a concert at the Lowlands Music Festival in the Netherlands when a sexual assault was spotted.
Lead singer Sam Carter saw the assault in the middle of performing a song and thought about whether he should say something about what he saw. When the song ended, he decided to speak up.
According to Elite Daily, Carter said, “I’ve been going over in my…mind about whether I should say something or not about what I saw in that last song. And you know what? I’m gonna…say it. I saw a girl, a woman, crowd surfing over here, and I’m not gonna…point the piece of sh*t out that did it, but I saw you…grab at her boob. I saw it. It is…disgusting and there is no…place for that sh*t.”
Carter continued to make clear that the woman’s body was not the assaulter’s body, and he should not have touched her inappropriately. He said there was no room for the unacceptable behavior at his show, and anyone who wished to partake in that type of behavior could leave and not come back.
After the speech, the crowd cheered wildly for the singer, and he continued to encourage keeping the venue a safe place for everyone to have a good time.
A video of Carter’s speech was posted online afterwards. “When it was posted to Twitter by the Dutch public radio channel NPO 3FM, the tweets quickly went viral, with several people thanking Carter for taking a stand,” stated Entertainment Weekly.
While it is important to emphasize Carter’s words that a concert is no place for sexual assault, it is also important to emphasize Carter’s actions and note that a concert is no place to be a bystander. The singer’s actions were very powerful in preventing a serious situation from occurring.
Although it may be difficult to keep an environment completely safe, it is always possible for any person to acknowledge something inappropriate. If any person becomes aware of a sexual assault occurrence or the possibility for sexual assault to occur, they must say something to keep others safe.
Concerts can be better places if more people responded the way Carter did. In places of entertainment, where people listen to good music and hang out with their friends, there is no room for sexual assault and no room for bystanders. Everyone must work together to keep a concert safe and fun.
According to Cosmopolitan, “…the alleged groper was not identified or charged (though it’s not clear if the woman crowd-surfing reported the incident herself).” However, Carter’s actions were not a waste, as he has made the importance of preventing sexual assault at concerts a viral topic.
Featured Image by Shelby on Flickr
Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
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