Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

This massive Twitter response shows the awful discrimination in the music industry

Caroline Framke
Caroline Framke wrote about culture, which usually means television. Also seen @ The A.V. Club, The Atlantic, Complex, Flavorwire, NPR, the fridge to get more seltzer.
music industry sexism

Early Tuesday morning, music journalist and Pitchfork senior editor Jessica Hopper asked for stories from “women and other marginalized folks” on inequality they might have experienced in the music or journalism industries.

The tweet neatly expresses a common yet complex form of discrimination in less than 140 characters.

Two days later, Hopper is still retweeting hundreds of stories.

Musicians told her about the countless times they were mistaken for girlfriends or “groupies,” like they couldn’t possibly be at a venue for any other reason.

Other journalists talked about how their editors didn’t trust them or actively encouraged them to use their sexuality to make a story more salacious. They recounted interviews in which their male subjects condescended to them, doubted their qualifications, hit on them, and even assaulted them.

These tweets are worth a read, if only because they prove just how constantly working women deal with pervasive and toxic misogyny and discrimination, in every industry imaginable.

Read all of the tweets in the Storify below.

More in Culture

Life
What is an aging face supposed to look like?What is an aging face supposed to look like?
Life

When bodies and appearances are malleable, what does that mean for the person underneath?

By Allie Volpe
Video
What would J.R.R. Tolkien think of Palantir?What would J.R.R. Tolkien think of Palantir?
Play
Video

How The Lord of the Rings lore helps explain the mysterious tech company.

By Benjamin Stephen
Climate
The climate crisis is coming for your groceriesThe climate crisis is coming for your groceries
Climate

Extreme heat is already wiping out soy, coffee, berries, and Christmas trees. Farm animals and humans are suffering too.

By Ayurella Horn-Muller
Future Perfect
The surprisingly strong case for feeling great about your coffee habitThe surprisingly strong case for feeling great about your coffee habit
Future Perfect

Your morning coffee is one of modern life’s underrated miracles.

By Bryan Walsh
Good Medicine
Do health influencers actually know what they’re talking about?Do health influencers actually know what they’re talking about?
Good Medicine

Most health influencers don’t have real credentials — but they are more influential than ever.

By Dylan Scott
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North