Dancewhores, Sisterdjs, and Pinknoises
12
yourself from it for a while" (1998, p. 90). In this specific instance he is referring to escapism
via drugs, at one time mainly ecstasy but increasingly by the use of cocaine, marijuana and
various methamphetamines. EDM culture seems to have come full circle without having made
any changes. "It’s music that’s oriented toward impact rather than affect," chides Reynolds (p.
91). In other words, no global cultural changes have occurred as a direct result of rave culture.
As a result of its arguably apolitical nature, the positioning of women in EDM culture is similar
to the ways in which women are positioned in other pop music communities.
In repeated descriptions of these scenes, the overwhelming majority of DJs, producers
and promoters quoted are men. Any references to, and insights from, women are included with
the taken from granted notion that they are party attendants and club goers, as opposed to
organizers or performers (McRobbie, 1999; Redhead et al, 1998; Reynolds, 1999; Silcott, 1999).
McRobbie notes that "girls appear to be less involved in the cultural production of rave, from the
flyers, to the events, to the DJing, than their male counterparts" (McRobbie, 1999, p. 79).
Women are relegated to less glamorous, more trivial positions such as helping out on the till,
working behind the bar, or engaging in ’PR’ by distributing flyers on the streets and in other clubs
(McRobbie, 1999, p. 82). Thus, the broader changing climate of sexual politics is not
automatically reflected in rave culture. In fact, the rave culture industry "reproduces the same
sexual division of labour which exists not just in the pop music industry but in most other types
of work and employment" (p. 82).
To the same effect, Bradby also addresses the systematic exclusion of female subjectivity
within this musical space. She draws attention to the specific ways in which women’s
relationship to technology continues to be relegated to passive roles. She makes the general
claim that in this world “women have once again been equated with sexuality, the body, emotion
Convention