8. From Rumours to Calling Out

Violence is embedded in the ways that the professional environments of art worlds operate. These are competitive and precarious spaces, where hierarchies (still) appear gendered. In this chapter, I focus on a lesser-analysed phenomenon: practices of denunciation of gender-based violence. In the male-dominated French electronic dance music world, artists tend to encounter multiple forms of violence throughout their careers. However, with the #MeToo movement and the spreading of egalitarian norms, some recent public denunciations have led to an ousting of the accused. How do these denunciations ‘work’? I view denunciations as itineraries, where accusations leading to sanctions must be situated relative to others that do not acquire such a degree of social validity. Specifically, based on three years of ethnographic work alongside eighty DJs in five French cities, I analyse the modalities and stages of twenty-two cases of denunciations of gender-based violence between artists. I begin by examining denunciations as rumours. In this art world—a closed ‘familial’ community where professional and sexual relationships and reputations overlap—denunciation of violence is strong and the costs of speaking up are high. Most denunciations circulate in a low-key, cautious way. In a next, ‘internal denunciation stage’, denunciations gain legitimacy when testimonies multiply and are supported by established artists, preferably men. Though reputational stigma shifts from victim to the denounced, no public stand is taken, so as to keep things ‘in the family’. Finally, denunciations become public when audiences and whole professional networks are involved. Although this results in an exclusion of the denounced, new obstacles for future claims are produced. Ultimately, the purportedly egalitarian ethos of electronic music and the recent legitimisation of the political fight against gender-based violence do not seem to fundamentally disturb this art world’s gendered organisation.