Interview: Mise Fosta (#MeToo)
Recently the team at Ministry of Folk learned about a movement shaking the traditional music community in Ireland: it’s called Mise Fosta, or Me Too. We reached out to some of the individuals involved in this movement to learn more about how the campaign started and what it hopes to achieve. Our intention in sharing this interview is to bring awareness to issues of sexual harassment that transcend national borders, and to stand in solidarity with our Irish sisters and brothers who are speaking truth to power.
In the U.S. the #MeToo movement took off in late 2017 amid widespread allegations of sexual abuse by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Nearly three years later, the Irish traditional (trad) music scene is having its own #MeToo moment. Why now, in the midst of a global pandemic? What prompted the creation of this platform to raise awareness about sexual abuse and harassment in this community?
Mise Fosta began in a very organic way – it was not an orchestrated movement, but the speed at which it gained traction showed how necessary it was. Everyone knew abuse was happening on some scale, but nobody wanted to speak up about it. Lockdown had given us a lot of time to think, and we quickly realised that many of us had spent more time over the past few festivals consoling friends who had been assaulted than we had playing music and enjoying the festival. We began to question why the trad scene had facilitated and enabled this behavior, and how we could go about changing it. We didn’t have the answers at the beginning, but after a few posts on our personal instagram pages, Mise Fosta was born.
Who are the organizers behind it, and how did you all become involved in this effort?
Mise Fosta is not an organisation, but a collective movement in which anyone can be a part. There is a core group of around 15 people who deal with the administration and running of social media pages. We are all musicians and volunteer activists who realised how widespread this problem was and that the community could benefit from a platform like Mise Fosta to give victims a voice and to educate people on consent.
Your Instagram page says that Mise Fosta aims “to change the culture of abuse and harassment within the Irish traditional music & dance scene.” What needs to happen to enable this culture change? Where are you focusing your efforts?
We are making it clear to abusers that we see them, and that this kind of behaviour will no longer be tolerated. Abusers once acted with impunity, as they knew there would be few if any consequences – we are hoping now they will think twice before acting. The original post that went up on Instagram actually didn’t focus on abusers, but enablers. Enablers are people who support abusers, allowing them to continue to climb the social ladder in their field of work without facing the consequences of their actions. This normalisation of abuse is at the core of the problem.
We are also hoping to open up an honest conversation about consent, which is really the most important thing. In Ireland there is a real lack of consent education for young people, so the Mise Fosta page is going to deliver educational content in an attempt to provide information that is often not openly discussed in Ireland.
It seemed like the Mise Fosta account gained a huge following over a matter of days. How has the movement or platform been evolving in the last month? Are there things you’ve been surprised by as this campaign gains traction, both in terms of numbers of people coming forward with stories and in the responses you’re getting?
We were definitely surprised by the sheer number of stories we were receiving and how it spans generations. It clarified that this is not a new problem, but it is a problem that has been hidden for years. We were also surprised by some of the reactions – it’s evident to most that this really isn’t a topic to be debated, yet we had a very small number of people disregarding women’s stories as “salacious gossip”, “defiling our wholesome tradition” and “ruining men’s careers”. This further proves our point, that the image of the tradition is seen by some as more important than the people that carry it. Ireland is still in some senses a very conservative, reactionary country which has a history of abuse. Ireland was a carceral state which locked up an estimated 300,000 women in the Magdalene Laundries from the 1920s-1960s. Abuse in Ireland has been a well-hidden secret for years and it almost comes to no surprise that it has infiltrated into the Traditional music scene as well.
A few years ago some women in the Irish traditional music community started a group called FairPlé to achieve gender balance in the production, performance, promotion, and development of Irish traditional and folk music. How was that movement received in the community? How are the goals of Mise Fosta similar to or different from those of FairPlé?
There is no doubt that FairPlé definitely received mixed opinions when it started out back in 2018. Many people denied there was any gender discrimination, and of course, discrimination is something that is very hard to prove, especially when it comes to selecting the ‘best’ musician for a headline act at a festival. But it drew attention to the fact that when you think of traditional Irish music, you rarely think of women, you nearly always think of men. Even though there are exceptionally good women playing music out there, men’s names are always the first to come to mind. FairPlé brought attention to obvious examples of discrimination against women, but also to a tacit and hidden culture that undervalues and sidelines talented women. FairPlé highlighted the gender disparity that was always overlooked and we definitely have been inspired and supported by FairPlé in our work. They knew there was disproportional representation of women in Trad, and since Mise Fosta began, there has been further clarification of why that is.
FairPlé have offered so much support to us during the movement and have been a much-needed guiding hand. Our goals differ slightly from FairPlé in that we are focusing more on the session and informal side of the traditional music whereas a lot of their work was based within the professional scene.
This effort began in Ireland, but the issues coming to light are likely prevalent in other places. Is there something unique about the way these issues play out in the Irish traditional music scene?
The issue of sexual assault is seen across all of society; however, because the trad community is small and interconnected it provides particular challenges. It is much more difficult to come forward because the perpetrator could be your music teacher, a family friend, or someone in your social circle.
I’ve noticed that the stories being shared through the Mise Fosta hashtag and on your Instagram page are not naming individuals who have perpetuated these abuses. Can you talk about your decision to keep this from becoming a “naming and shaming” campaign?
We have never felt, as a group of young activists, that naming and shaming was our responsibility. Although there have been times where we have received multiple allegations towards the same person and wanted to post the name, that can interfere with court cases that may occur further down the line. We aren’t judge and jury, so we must play the long game and let justice prevail. All we can do is give women an avenue to voice their experiences and signpost them to get the help and advice they need and to progress their case if they want to do so.
You did an interview that aired on RTE on July 23. How was that interview received? Has it brought a lot of publicity to your efforts? [RTE segment is available here starting at 22:35, and an accompanying article can be found here.]
The Prime Time episode was great publicity for the movement. We gained a lot of followers on our social media page after the show and many messages of support. The women were incredibly brave and spoke brilliantly and were a perfect representation of the movement. Having a piece aired by the national broadcaster has given us a lot of validity.
Where do you hope the Mise Fosta movement will be a year from now?
In an ideal world, there would be no need for Mise Fosta in a year’s time. But in reality, we will continue to educate people on consent, provide a support network for women who are assaulted, and try and change the culture of the Irish traditional music scene.
Are there any lessons that you’ve learned from starting a social media campaign like this? Things that have been challenging? Things that are working well?
Social media attracts negative as well as positive attention, trolling and abuse does occur but we have only received a small amount. All in all, social media is great for a movement like this, we can reach a large number of people from all over the world very quickly and it’s proving to be working well so far.
Do you have recommendations for people who want to learn more about what you’re doing, or to get involved somehow?
People can keep up to date on our social media pages, which is where most of our work can be found. The idea behind Mise Fosta is that we are not an organisation but a movement, an open collective, and everyone can be involved in their own way. So if at any stage people have an idea, or want to get involved, they are more than welcome to message the Instagram page or email us at misefostarunda@gmail.com.
The Irish traditional music scene is a brilliant community. Most of us can easily say that our favourite memories come from being at festivals and sessions, our best friends were met through music and we all love the tradition. Abuse does not belong in our tradition. We have not ‘ruined’ the scene by bringing this abuse to light, we are in the process of making it a much safer, more enjoyable place in which everyone can enjoy the tradition.
Follow Mise Fosta on Instagram
