Sexual violence can hide in plain sight at music festivals according to new study

The pressure to maintain an atmosphere of fun and escapism can make it harder for festival organisations to acknowledge and respond to harm, while frontline workers are left dealing with its consequences a new study finds.  

Previous research into gender-based violence (GBV) at music festivals has largely focused on the experiences of audiences and the risks they face.  

A new study from the University of Portsmouth, takes a different perspective, examining the experiences of the workers who keep festivals running and are often the first to encounter or respond to violence and harassment. 

The research suggests that the atmosphere festivals work to create can make GBV harder to acknowledge. In spaces designed around joy, freedom and escapism, violence can seem out of place or be treated as incompatible with the experience organisers want to promote.

At the same time, organisational politics, workplace hierarchies and unclear processes can combine to make incidents difficult to recognise, understand and act upon. 

Based on 24 trauma-informed interviews with festival workers and fieldwork at five UK music festivals, the study explores how violence can become part of the background of an event rather than something an organisation properly acknowledges and addresses. 

One example involved a lighting technician who was asked by a promoter to reduce lighting because it was “ruining the vibe”. The technician challenged the decision, saying: “Unless the vibe you’re going for is a rapey one then you need more lighting.” The promoter had the final say and kept the lighting low. 

This example illustrates how a decision that could improve people's safety can be overridden by the desire to preserve the festival atmosphere. 

The study also found that workers could be reluctant to report harassment because of the insecure nature of festival employment. Two women who experienced sexual harassment from a male security guard asked only for him to be told to leave them alone, fearing that making a formal complaint could affect their chances of being employed at future events. 

The researchers found that even when incidents were reported, responsibility for dealing with them was often unclear. Disclosures could be redirected, minimised or lost as they passed between teams, while the people receiving them did not always have the authority or support to take action. 

In one interview, a worker recalls having encountered four incidents of sexual violence by 10pm at a festival. After briefly retreating to a tent to cry, they returned to their shift while the event continued around them. 

The researchers describe this as “organisational disorientation” - a situation in which the atmosphere, working practices and structures of a festival make gender-based violence difficult to recognise, interpret and respond to. 

They suggest their findings challenge the idea that the festival atmosphere is simply a backdrop to incidents of violence. Instead, the way festivals are organised, including their informal hierarchies, working practices and competing priorities, can shape whether harm is recognised and addressed. 

University of Portsmouth PhD student, Gemma Summers-Green is the paper’s lead author. She said: “Our findings suggest that gender-based violence is not just something that happens within festival organisations. The way those organisations operate can allow it to flourish with frequency and impunity. When protecting the atmosphere, the smooth running of an event takes priority, accountability can dissolve, leaving the people experiencing or responding to violence without the support they need.” 

The researchers say that GBV does not necessarily go unseen. Instead, it can “hide in the open”, blending into the noise, movement and apparent freedom of the festival environment. The atmosphere becomes a kind of smokescreen, making it harder to recognise harm and establish who is responsible for acting on it. 

Dr Judith Fletcher Brown, Associate Professor in Social Marketing at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Festivals are designed to create a sense of joy, freedom and escapism. But that can make it difficult for organisations to acknowledge gender-based violence, because it seems so at odds with the experience they are trying to create. Our study shows how the structures and culture of festival organisations can make violence difficult to recognise and even harder to act upon.” 

The paper, published in the Organization Journal, shifts attention towards the workers who experience harassment themselves, support others who have experienced violence and carry out the practical and emotional work of responding to harm. 

Dr Karen Middleton, Associate Professor of Responsible Advertising at the University of Portsmouth, said: “It is not enough for festivals to have policies encouraging people to report violence. They need to look at what happens after someone speaks up, who has the authority to act and whether concerns are properly recorded and followed through. Otherwise, organisations risk protecting themselves at the expense of the people who work within them.” 

The researchers suggest that the concept of organisational disorientation could be worth exploring in other leisure environments, including nightlife and tourism, where maintaining a particular atmosphere or customer experience may also influence how organisations respond to harm. Further research would be needed to establish whether similar patterns occur in these settings.