Amelie Lens has used a DJ Mag cover interview to speak publicly about sexual harassment in the DJ scene. The Belgian techno artist describes boundary-crossing behaviour backstage and in the booth, and says promoters and male colleagues need to do more when women report similar experiences.
Lens says the basic point should not need repeating: when she is behind the decks, she is at work. In the interview, she links her own experiences to what other women in the scene have told her, including serious incidents that, in her view, were not taken seriously even when women found the courage to speak about them. She also says she once believed that naming certain artists in public would lead to change, but now feels that wider awareness on its own has not been enough.
One of the clearest details in the interview concerns messages Lens says she received this summer before sharing lineups with male artists who faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. She says female colleagues warned her to be careful and to watch her drink. For Lens, that shows how normalised this kind of risk management has become for women working shows, even though it should not be part of preparing for a set.
Her criticism is aimed in part at promoters and bookers. Lens argues that when several independent women describe similar behaviour, organisers need to ask whether booking that artist still protects other performers, staff and guests. She also says male colleagues should step in when they see boundary-crossing behaviour and should challenge other men directly, instead of leaving women to handle the problem alone.
Lens does not name any artists in the interview. The interview also presents her comments as part of a wider problem in club culture, where women still rely on private warnings to get through shared bills safely.
