Adam Obernauer of Born in a Cent on sexism in the punk scene

The UK-based blog I Live Sweat has been putting up essays from musicians and other scenesters about sexism in the punk scene since February, and they’ve had pieces from women like Lauren Denitzio of The Measure[SA] and Mariel Loveland of Candy Hearts. Now they’ve put up a piece from Adam Obernauer of the Brooklyn-based indie/punk band Born In A Cent. Adam talks about how his sister (and drummer) Charlene schooled him on feminist issues when they were going to shows together and about the things men can do to make women in the scene more comfortable.

Once I got more into thinking about and understanding my privileges as a white man (which is a never ending road), I became more and more aware of the ‘silent sexisms’ that are so apparent in the punk scene, that I hadn’t noticed in my younger years; The whole culture of moshing, hyper-masculinity at shows, men being homoerotic, men not taking women musicians seriously, standing in the front when you are clearly larger than other people that cannot see the show, etc. The best way I’ve learned to check myself is to ask the question, “How much space am I taking up?” If there are a bunch of men continually speaking, interrupting, conducting themselves in a loud, masculine way, and not making room for women, the space is not safe and women generally do not feel comfortable.

Read the full essay over here. Once you’re done with that, flip back through the blog to read the whole series.