Female Reporter Groped Multiple Times While Reporting On Women Getting Assaulted At Coachella

• By Aiman Shahab
• April 22, 2018
• < 1

Sexual harassment has been a rampant problem this year, especially at music festivals.

People usually attend music festivals to let themselves loose of all their worries and to chill a little. However, it wasn’t just dozing off on a hill and listening to your favorite music. The idea of enjoying and relaxing at music festivals is majorly obscured by perverted men, who don’t know how to maintain civility around women.

This year, teen vogue sent reporters to Coachella, for covering the music festival. However, the one thing which evidently overshadowed the booze and music was the pervasive culture of harassment. While it’s never fun to talk about sexual harassment, women have been quiet for far too long. Women deserve to feel safe. Therefore, it’s incredibly crucial to keep this conversation at the forefront.

This year @TeenVogue sent an army to @coachella to report on the "culture." What we learned is not on the social media feeds: sexual harassment is completely normal at the festival. @VeraPapisova talked to 50+ women and there were no exceptions https://t.co/IrrbwRCwWG

— Samhita (@TheSamhita) April 18, 2018

The reporter Vera Papisova interviewed 54 women about their experience at Coachella, and they told her that they’d all been groped, harassed and aggressively assaulted at the festival.

Papisova herself was groped 22 times at the festival, during the day of the report.

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’s report persuaded a lot of women to come forward with their horrific experiences of sexual assault at festivals.

i have such fond memories of music festivals and they've been a huge part of my career.

reading this brought back a lot of suppressed moments from fests all over the country

at my first coachella a man in his 40s grabbed both of my breasts and ran away https://t.co/d61JnBNeS6

— defund LAPD (@frankiegreek) April 19, 2018

I watched a woman in the vip area of a stage get groped on her ass 5 times in 10 min. She was not intoxicated and did not vocalize objections. But how many times have women stayed quiet as to not cause a scene?

— AmyLou (@AtropaBdonna) April 18, 2018

can confirm: was groped at Coachella last year. turned around to scream at the dude but got carried away in the crowd. https://t.co/4qKywwQSgY

— Alex Bruce-Smith (@alexbrucesmith) April 18, 2018

Sadly, sexual harassment at festivals is rampant.

The other side of Coachella: rampant sexual harassment https://t.co/4NrHSFHQYJ

— Elizabeth Renzetti (@lizrenzetti) April 19, 2018

“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.” – @VeraPapisova https://t.co/NpMA15N5us

— Emily Lindin (@EmilyLindin) April 19, 2018

“I interviewed 54 women at Coachella, and they all said they had been sexually harassed.” https://t.co/Hal5xZWQKN

— Jorge Rivas (@thisisjorge) April 19, 2018

The report sparked a debate about how men can intervene and hold other men accountable. Whereas, women are obligated to helping each other out.

I'm so glad @TeenVogue did this & am so deeply unsurprised by it. Men have talked about music as a way to "get girls" since forever. Music isn't dehumanizing of women, but the culture around it sure as hell is. https://t.co/iCb8u939Pr

— Emily L. Hauser אלה אסתר (@emilylhauser) April 18, 2018

https://twitter.com/drvox/status/987074995955187712

I can’t think of a situation, even with drugs & alcohol, where I would feel entitled to a stranger’s body like in these stories. The real punch in the gut, was when the author tells a story then says “Nobody around me did anything to help.” THAT, I can and need to be better at. https://t.co/Zz268MJHcK

— Eric Doran (@doran_eric) April 19, 2018

The stories kept coming in.

Terrible. But let’s get talking to the men. “I talked to men who groped women at Coachella” “I talked to men who stopped other men from groping at Coachella” “I talked to Coachella organizers about how they are going to stop sexual harassment and assault by men at Coachella”

— Sara Cassidy (@SaraCassidyWrit) April 19, 2018

https://twitter.com/kimoco/status/986991623916539904

The change is happening already. I know lots of men who would rectify these situations if they saw them, but still not enough. I also ended up cutting a quote from a young woman who told me she and her friends rescued a girl from a bad situation. Girls can help girls too 🤙 https://t.co/0KEVo1t0P6

— Vera Papisova (@VeraPapisova) April 19, 2018

The rampancy of sexual harassment and rape culture can only be put to a stop if women start speaking up about their rights to protection. Have you ever been in a situation as disgruntling as this? Let us know in the comments below.