Is there anyone amongst the mostly spineless men in dance music’s higher echelons who are capable of taking a stance on anything other than making lots of money? Ears To The House has noticed yet again this week that each time a new allegation of sexual impropriety comes forward, it’s always women bringing it to the forefront.
The men, on the other hand, never have anything to say. Now, we don’t believe for one minute that all the men at the top of the dance music tree are misogynistic pigs who think it’s okay to do what you like to a woman – so what’s the reason for the collective silence? Is it just the bro code? Or is it the Mafia like behaviour at the top where they feel the need to show each other the appropriate level of “respect”?
It’s both, and more. We mention all this because Derrick May has been out and about again over the past few days – although naturally enough, he wasn’t actually working. No, he was out and about at Detroit’s Charivari Festival, which took place between August 11th-14th.
Now, this isn’t unusual these days – he was there last year too, despite previously refusing to play the event and describing it as being like “dog s*** on the sole of your shoe”. But there is one big contrast to the previous year, in that May was happy to be photographed this time around.
Official photographs of the event by Marius Bingue Photography show a number of images where May is proudly posing with his friends. One photograph, for example, shows Derrick May posing alongside Kris Klayton, who performs as a DJ, producer and remixer under the Karizma and Kaytronik names. The photo can be found here.
Elsewhere, Matthew Benjamin – better known in the dance music world simply as Bushwacka – posted this photo on Instagram yesterday…
It might interest you to know Benjamin is nowadays a fully “qualified psychotherapeutic counsellor”. So of all people, he should understand how individuals can be triggered by even simple things such as seeing images of a person whom has caused them great distress. What exactly was he thinking when he posted this photograph?
The picture in question was liked by Todd Terry, Marc Kinchen, Eats Everything, Steve Bug, Darren Emerson and Timo Maas. Exactly why they liked about this photo is a matter for each man to justify for themselves – but the fact they’re seemingly comfortable to have their names appear next to a photo of a man accused of multiple sexual assaults and rape deeply unsettles us.
When are the men at the top going to start taking these things seriously? A worrying disconnect is starting to appear between fans who want to see change – and those at the top who apparently do not. It’s going to develop into a chasm if nothing is done…
