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The Culture of Sexual Violence at Festivals: Through the Eyes of Festival Attendees

Jónsdóttir, Fanney Rún LU (2022) SOCM04 20221
Sociology
Department of Sociology
Abstract
This thesis examines sexual violence at festivals based on eleven interviews with people that have been to two popular festivals in Iceland, Eistnaflug, and Þjóðhátíð. The thesis seeks answers to three research questions; How are festivals characterized by festival attendees? How do festival attendees explain sexual violence at festivals? What preventive methods at festivals have festival attendees noticed, and what kind of prevention do they think would work? To be able to give concrete answers to those questions, the thesis relies upon the theoretical background of the carnival, liminality, collective effervescence, sexually violent effervescence, and social network theory. The thesis presents how the core characteristics of festivals... (More)
This thesis examines sexual violence at festivals based on eleven interviews with people that have been to two popular festivals in Iceland, Eistnaflug, and Þjóðhátíð. The thesis seeks answers to three research questions; How are festivals characterized by festival attendees? How do festival attendees explain sexual violence at festivals? What preventive methods at festivals have festival attendees noticed, and what kind of prevention do they think would work? To be able to give concrete answers to those questions, the thesis relies upon the theoretical background of the carnival, liminality, collective effervescence, sexually violent effervescence, and social network theory. The thesis presents how the core characteristics of festivals are gendered, as women are not able to experience liminality within the carnival to the same extent as men. As well as how sexual violence is mainly directed toward women and how they have had to take their own precautions regarding preventive methods, as the methods that have been used have not shown excellent results. (Less)
Popular Abstract
In this thesis, I looked at sexual violence at festivals through the eyes of festival attendees. More specifically, I focused the research on two popular festivals in Iceland called Eistnaflug and Þjóðhátíð. The subject is relatively new to academia, so there is not a lot of preexisting data. This thesis attempts to fill in that knowledge gap. Eleven interviews were conducted with Icelandic people that had gone to either one of the festivals. Nine of them were women, and 2 of them were men. The data from the interviews were analyzed through the methods of a case study and thematic analysis. Five theories support the results; The carnival, liminality, collective effervescence, sexually violent effervescence, and Social network theory.
The... (More)
In this thesis, I looked at sexual violence at festivals through the eyes of festival attendees. More specifically, I focused the research on two popular festivals in Iceland called Eistnaflug and Þjóðhátíð. The subject is relatively new to academia, so there is not a lot of preexisting data. This thesis attempts to fill in that knowledge gap. Eleven interviews were conducted with Icelandic people that had gone to either one of the festivals. Nine of them were women, and 2 of them were men. The data from the interviews were analyzed through the methods of a case study and thematic analysis. Five theories support the results; The carnival, liminality, collective effervescence, sexually violent effervescence, and Social network theory.
The analysis is presented in three chapters. Firstly, the characteristics of festivals are presented. The features emphasize how gendered the festival settings are, where dress codes and drinking culture magnitudes the problem that is sexual violence. It also shows how men and women do not experience festivals the same as women are not able to emerge in the carnival and liminality fully.
Secondly, the second chapter showcases how festival attendees see festival violence at festivals. The most significant findings were the impact musicians, and performers have on the atmosphere. People either accept and normalize the behaviors of musicians that have been allegedly accused of sexual violence, or they despise them. Safety conditions are also a big concern, and interviewees mentioned that organizers needed to take more extensive measures and not sugarcoat the issue of sexual violence.
Thirdly, women have to be consistently aware of their surroundings to be careful, whereas men do not have to take the same measures. Lastly, anger and aggression are magnified by festivals' characteristics, leading to people breaking the rules, such as sexually violating another person. The last chapter focuses on preventive methods and how most have not shown great success. However, bystander intervention has shown some success, but it needs to be applied strategically. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Jónsdóttir, Fanney Rún LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOCM04 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Collective effervescence, carnival, liminality, sexually violent effervescence, festivals, sexual violence, culture
language
English
id
9093692
date added to LUP
2022-06-28 10:03:05
date last changed
2022-06-28 10:03:05
@misc{9093692,
  abstract     = {{This thesis examines sexual violence at festivals based on eleven interviews with people that have been to two popular festivals in Iceland, Eistnaflug, and Þjóðhátíð. The thesis seeks answers to three research questions; How are festivals characterized by festival attendees? How do festival attendees explain sexual violence at festivals? What preventive methods at festivals have festival attendees noticed, and what kind of prevention do they think would work? To be able to give concrete answers to those questions, the thesis relies upon the theoretical background of the carnival, liminality, collective effervescence, sexually violent effervescence, and social network theory. The thesis presents how the core characteristics of festivals are gendered, as women are not able to experience liminality within the carnival to the same extent as men. As well as how sexual violence is mainly directed toward women and how they have had to take their own precautions regarding preventive methods, as the methods that have been used have not shown excellent results.}},
  author       = {{Jónsdóttir, Fanney Rún}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Culture of Sexual Violence at Festivals: Through the Eyes of Festival Attendees}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}