Avril opens up on sexual harassment on stage
That sex sells is not in question. It therefore comes as no surprise that sensual dressing, suggestive lyrics and raunchy dancing are some of the things that come with being a female musician today.
One might argue that this “package” submits them to the whims of adrenaline, testosterone-charged male fans, and the question then becomes, just how much attention from fans is too much?
Avril, one of Kenya’s celebrated female artistes, was recently on the receiving end of aroused fan attention at the Maasai Mara University where they not only fondled her behind, but also took selfies with it.
The star took to her Instagram page to react;
“You see what I had to deal with… Smh (shaking my head) SpotTheGuyWithTheYellowShirtTakingASSelfie,
“Gosh, Masaai Mara University students showed me things,” she captioned another picture.
DRUNK FAN
Speaking later, Avril admitted that that was not an isolated incident.
“The occasional drunk fan has jumped on stage but that’s a simple situation to contain. It can actually help make your show a little bit more interesting if handled well,” she said.
“Excitement is expected; how you deal with it is what is important. As a female performer, you have to be wise and learn how to work with your audience because the way you react to how a male or female fan behaves will generate different reactions.
“Some reactions can get out of control because of, perhaps, how you said something or did something. Male and female fans alike will surprise you when you are on stage so it’s important to have security with you on stage if the stage has not been properly secured from the crowd,” she added.
In response to the question as to whether fans are justified to react in such a manner, Avril said, “Mob psychology is a tough thing to understand. No one has the right to touch someone without their consent but you’ll find that it’ll happen many times because people are different and what is wrong to some people might not be wrong to others. When one person does something, there always seems to have something like a domino effect.”
FIANCEE GET MAD
The singer, who is engaged, added that her fiancée gets aggravated when some fans choose to take advantage of her, or of the situation but “he’s very mature about it” as well.
To protect herself while on stage, she has developed some key survival tactics like learning how to talk to people in order not to make the situation worse.
If there is one thing that the Avril incident at Maasai Mara brought to the fore, it is how vulnerable female artistes are while performing on stage.