Charlotte de Witte on Sexism and the ‘Female DJ’ Paradox: “It’s Incredibly Frustrating”
In a new interview, Charlotte de Witte has opened up about her perspective on gender inequality in the music industry.
Speaking with GRAMMY.com, the Belgian techno superstar waxed poetic about a number of topics, including the paradoxical nature of the phrase “female DJ.” de Witte called the diction “incredibly frustrating” while also bemoaning the term “DJane.” “It is, it’s incredibly frustrating. And it happens all the time,” she said. “A very annoying thing that happens as well is, when people online tend to compare DJs, 99 percent of the cases, it is between two female DJs. And indeed, they refer to you as a female DJ or ‘DJane,’ that’s also a word.”
de Witte, who was recently named as one of EDM.com‘s Best Music Producers of 2020, goes on to say that there are many other battles for women to fight in the electronic dance music industry.
“I’ve been DJing for 11 years now and it’s bad to say that I sort of got used to it,” she continued. “Not that it doesn’t give me the chills, I mean, if someone in my close surroundings would say something like that, I would probably say something about it, but I realized that this mindset is a very slow one to change in people. Also, people don’t fully realize what they’re doing with saying those things—that doesn’t make it right—but there are much worse things you can say than referring to someone as a female DJ. I mean, there are a lot of other battles to fight.”
A candid de Witte also talked about the future of her KNTXT label, what exactly goes into making a techno banger, and her 2021 release plans, among other topics. You can read the full GRAMMY.com interview here.
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