Female singers / musicians / dancers and the attitudes of some male punters

[darkandrew]

I've just got back from seeing an 80s tribute act with my wife and was quite shocked by the attitudes of some of the male members of the audience toward the female dancers. It seemed that quite a large chunk of the male audience think it's OK to repeatedly wolf whistle and shout out smutty comments at the dancers throughout the show. I overheard a conversation between one of these men and the lady that he was with, during the interval, where he tried to justify his behaviour by saying that "they love it, having all these men oggling them".

To be honest, I found it deeply embarrassing and awkward. Now, am I being too sensitive, do I need to lighten up a bit? Is it just a bit of fun or was a right to feel awkward and embarrassed by this behaviour? How do you feel if / when you or your female bandmates are on the receiving end of this sort of thing? Is it just par for the course or is it something that should have been kicked into touch many years ago and has no place in 2017? If it does happen to you and you don't like it, what do you do? Do you react or just ignore it and carry on?

Edited September 15, 2017 by darkandrew

[Count Bassy]

Didn't we have a thread recently about female audience members ogling, even 'stalking', male band members? Is that OK?

[ahpook]

[quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1505513870' post='3372590']
To be honest, I found it deeply embarrassing and awkward.
[/quote]

I'm not surprised, it sounds horrible.

Any idea how the dancers feel about it ?

[Les]

Twas ever thus, but perhaps a bit of decorum is in order.

[mr zed]

That sort of behaviour was more prevalent in the '80's so maybe the perpetrators were joining in with the retro theme? Similar to punk gigs where the audience pogo and gob at each other. Not acceptable then but more common and not acceptable now but thankfully less common.

[timmo]

I wouldn't let it spoil my night

[darkandrew]

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1505524100' post='3372624']
Could I ask where the gig was please? Roughly.
[/quote]
Hazlett Theatre, Maidstone in Kent.

[leftybassman392]

I used to work a lot with female singers, mostly in low-key duo format. I have to say I don't recall ever experiencing that kind of attitude, certainly not from the stage. Perhaps it was the settings and/or the acoustic style of the music (not to mention the talent of the singers ) but our audiences were always very appreciative of what we did. I know it happens, just never to me is all - at least not in those type of gigs.

Edited September 16, 2017 by leftybassman392

[darkandrew]

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1505542581' post='3372648']
I wouldn't let it spoil my night
[/quote]
It did make it a little awkward and my wife found it a little discomforting - a shame really because the band were actually very good.

Edited September 16, 2017 by darkandrew

[silverfoxnik]

It's not acceptable at all. Even worse, a guy behaving like that whilst he's with his female partner.

[rOB]

I would agree that it is unacceptable behaviour.

"They love it" is the worst kind of self-justification.

[rOB]

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1505521376' post='3372615']
Didn't we have a thread recently about female audience members ogling, even 'stalking', male band members? Is that OK?
[/quote]

IMO, female audience members behaving badly toward male performers is also unacceptable. However there are significant differences in the situations due to our culture and average physical differences between the men and women.

Edited for spelling.

Edited September 16, 2017 by rOB

[gjones]

Being the subject of ogling, is not just a female problem. As any, reasonably, presentable, Scotsman, who occasionally wears a kilt, will attest too.

Sometimes it's amusing but many times it's not.

[Yank]

This might not be politically correct, but if the female is wearing revealing, provocative outfits, isn't this the response they hope for? I doubt that can-can dancers in years past were expecting mere polite applause.

[Dood]

Neanderthals walk amongst us even in 2017.

[SICbass]

I work in shows with dancers all the time. They hate this kind of crap but tend to just take it as an occupational hazard. As for "loving it", no, not ever. They have to earn a living just like we do and almost never have any say as to what they have to wear.

Di@kheads are unfortunately universal and, as someone said previously, trying to reason with their non-existent conscience won't go well or achieve positive results.

[arthurhenry]

[quote name='Yank' timestamp='1505553987' post='3372731']
This might not be politically correct, but if the female is wearing revealing, provocative outfits, isn't this the response they hope for? I doubt that can-can dancers in years past were expecting mere polite applause.
[/quote]
There is no mention in the original post of what they were wearing. We can't know what response they were hoping for without asking them (easy to do; in a few clicks I found their website). Whatever response they received, this is nothing to do with their outfits (Which, in the pictures I've seen are not "revealing"), but solely to do with the attitude of the responder and possibly the amount of alcohol they have consumed.

[darkandrew]

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1505572084' post='3372935']

I was depping with Total 80's at the gig darkandrew saw last night.
[/quote]

Were you depping on bass? The band, overall, were very good - very tight - and there was no sign that anyone was standing in - so, well played. But I really have got to single out the drummer for praise, he was excellent - didn't overplay anything, got everyting spot on all night and really held everything together.

[ambient]

[quote name='Yank' timestamp='1505553987' post='3372731']
This might not be politically correct, but if the female is wearing revealing, provocative outfits, isn't this the response they hope for? I doubt that can-can dancers in years past were expecting mere polite applause.
[/quote]

No.

In my opinion there's no such thing as political correctness, there's not saying and doing things that may cause offence to people.

Maybe they were wearing the costumes as authenticity? I don't remember the 80s, but I've seen reruns of too of the pops with the dancers.

[Lozz196]

When anyone, male or female promotes their act by dressing and moving sexily, it`s likely to get that kind of response from some people. If the dancing and singing was the important thing then they could wear baggy sack-cloth couldn`t they? And after all, Elvis`s stage popularity no doubt was hugely inflated due to both his image and his moves. If he had looked like Winston Churchill or Napoleon Bonaparte, and worn clothing like the Wurzels, yet sand & perfomed exactly the same it`s unlikely we would have heard of him today. And people screamed at him - but oh yes, that`s girls doing it to men, so that must be ok then. Not really much difference to blokes doing it to girls really. Are we all that upset that girls used to scream at Elvis, Cliff, The Beatles, and The Stones? Nah, thought not.

[lowdown]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1505583663' post='3373037']
And people screamed at him - but oh yes, that`s girls doing it to men, so that must be ok then. Not really much difference to blokes doing it to girls really. Are we all that upset that girls used to scream at Elvis, Cliff, The Beatles, and The Stones? Nah, thought not.
[/quote]

Not to mention poor old Tom Jones, who has to walk around the stage with girls knickers on his head.

[bazzbass]

are you just pretending to be outraged coz your GF is reading over your shoulder?

why are there DANCERS at your rock gig? for males to ogle them, that's why. or else you're kidding yourself.

[Steve Browning]

I'm looking at the pictures and wonder if it wasn't the guys being wolf whistled. :-)

[Bilbo]

It's an interesting topic. My wife and I have a rule that, if a music video is on the TV, we have to turn it over if anyone, male or female, is dancing in their pants. We rarely see a video all the way through.

It is something I have noticed in Jazz as well. The sexualisation of ANY female musician, not just singers, is, to my mind, an unfortunate trend. Eg. Diana Krall cd covers. If you see them in order, she is wearing less and less each time. It's so unnecessary. These are talented women who shouldn't have to be presented in this way. As s promoter, I have nevertheless observed that Jazz audiences like a 'pretty girl' as much as any audience. The tend to behave, though, and keep their thoughts to themselves.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Yank' timestamp='1505553987' post='3372731']
This might not be politically correct, but if the female is wearing revealing, provocative outfits, isn't this the response they hope for? I doubt that can-can dancers in years past were expecting mere polite applause.
[/quote]

Careful now.