Research article: Gender minorities at music festivals
Maarit Kinnunen; Antti Honkanen: Gender minorities at music festival. International Journal of Event and Festival Management (2025) 16 (3): 343–363.
The purpose was to examine the prevalence and type of inappropriate behaviour gender minorities face and how they perceive such behaviour. The research data comprised over 12,000 responses to a web survey, which included 184 responses from gender minority members and four in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using statistical methods and interpretative phenomenological analysis.
About 59% of gender minority members had experienced inappropriate behaviour, compared to 34% of female festival attendees. The most common form of inappropriate behaviour towards gender minorities was harassment because of gender, followed by sexual harassment, physically threatening situations and harassment because of appearance or clothing. Interviews were analysed against the theoretical framework of social inclusion, determining how the experiences influenced access, participation and empowerment.
