Journalist investigating sexual harassment at Coachella ‘groped 22 times in 10 hours’

A REPORTER investigating sexual assault at a music festival has revealed how she was “repeatedly violated by strangers”.

A JOURNALIST attending Coachella to interview women about their experiences of sexual harassment says she was groped 22 times in the space of 10 hours.

And according to Teen Vogue’s Vera Papisova, every one of the 54 women she spoke to at the annual California music festival reported their own experiences of being assaulted.

“This year’s Coachella experience was full of moments I never saw on Instagram — being repeatedly violated by strangers,” she wrote.

“One guy followed me across the field to the Mojave stage, where I was meeting a friend to see FIDLAR. When my friend left to see another band, I stayed behind, and this guy came up behind me and whispered, ‘You’re a goddess’ and then rubbed his hands on my hips and butt.

“When I was waiting in line for a sweet potato taco on Sunday, a man poked me in the stomach and asked me if I do pilates. I said no, and then he asked, ‘What’s the secret behind that sixpack?’ and rubbed my bare stomach with his hand.”

I went to Coachella for 10 hours to report this story, and I was groped 22 times. https://t.co/XNgZzXep3C

— Vera Papisova (@VeraPapisova) April 18, 2018

Papisova recounted how she was verbally abused for refusing advances — one man called a “heinous bitch” for refusing a kiss, while another said she had “lot of attitude for a no-name model” after she declined his offer to go into a bathroom stall.

“A festival environment and set up feels like an invitation for men to behave this way, sometimes in groups,” she wrote. “Do men see a woman’s presence at a music festival, particularly a dancing woman, as a substitute for consent?”

She said the young women she spoke to all told similar stories. “It’s just really uncomfortable to feel someone right behind you, touching you or rubbing you,” 20-year-old Phoebe told her.

A 16-year-old named Reagan described the environment as “scary”. “Just the way people touch me when you’re walking through a crowd,” she said. “Why are you touching me there? We’re trying to have fun and fit in here.”

Another woman, 23-year-old Logan, said it had “actually happened a handful of times” that day. “If you’re in tight quarters, and you’re getting closer to the stage, guys will always come up and start grinding with you to see if you’re into that sort of thing,” she said.

According to a survey of 500 respondents by not-for-profit group OurMusicMyBody, 92 per cent of women reported being harassed at music festivals, compared with 31 per cent of male attendees.

In 2015, a photo of a Coachella attendee wearing a T-shirt with the words “Eat Sleep Rape Repeat” caused uproar. Earlier this year, video of topless woman punching a man who had groped her at the Rhythm and Vines music festival in New Zealand went viral.

In Tasmania, Falls Festival was marred by three sexual assaults this year, following two sexual assaults and a rape in the camping area last year.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s largest music festival was cancelled last year due to a shocking number of rapes and sexual assaults in 2016, with more than 35 reports of girls aged between 12 and 17 targeted by gangs of “foreign youths”, despite police handing out bracelets reminding attendees, “Don’t Grope”.

“Music festivals are meant to be spaces for people to relax, make new friends, and enjoy music, but the harsh reality is that many people attend with the expectation that they will not be safe in these environments,” Papisova wrote.

On Twitter, she shared a number of the abusive messages she has received since publishing the story. “Would rape your ass str8 on festival ... bend over f**king femism [sic] s**t, btw ur a 2/10 not more,” one message said.

Other messages read, “u have the look in ur eyes of someone desperate to be considered a victim”, “you were dressed like a s**t I bet” and “did u like getting touched, u probably forgot what if [sic] felt like since its been 10 years”.

“This is what it’s like to be a woman on the internet,” Papisova tweeted. “We are conditioned to punish and silence women for being vocal about abusive behaviour. This is why women don’t report.”

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Originally published as Journalist investigating sexual harassment at Coachella ‘groped 22 times in 10 hours’