By now, you’ve certainly heard enough about DJ Mag’s Top 100 to satiate a lifetime of gossip, but the shit storm continues. As usual, there’s an incredible lack of female presence on the Top 100 list, only including five women over three spots on the list (Krewella, NERVO, and Miss K8). In an honorable attempt to combat allegations of sexism, THUMP went ahead and asked DJs on the poll why more women didn’t make it on the list.
Krewella, one of the more vocal female groups in the EDM scene and two of five total females in the top 100, had something to say about the lack of female representation, however it’s not quite the response we expected.
“The electronic music industry can be daunting for women. If more women are willing to take big risks and be unafraid of the ridicule, double standards, and any other setbacks or troubles, we will (hopefully) slowly start to see more women releasing electronic music, playing shows and festivals, and thus ending up on the Top 100.“ 
Thump recently posted more highlights from the questionnaire, too – and while answers ranged from concerned to comical, one in particular claimed the prize for most arrogant and just plain dumb. It seems DJ Frontliner, real name Barry Drooger, didn’t get the hint from Ten Walls or Mat Zo that being an asshole can seriously threaten your career. When asked why there weren’t more females in the Top 100 DJs Poll, Frontliner provided this eloquent quip:
“Because maybe they spent too much time in Sephora and too little time on producing?”
Nicely put, Barry! Now, we can’t be certain if he’s serious; maybe it was an attempt at a joke, albeit in exceedingly poor taste, but we’re more interested in the responses to his remark. As you can imagine, a few women were more than happy to say something to Frontliner, but VenessaMichaels slams it home. Read her thoughts below.
“To be honest, he’s not so much worth talking about but it’s hilarious to even think there’s people out there who think like that. I want to say THANK YOU to Frontliner because I’m actually grateful that he brought this up. Now we can focus in on bringing a solution to the table. What Frontliner did was highlight a major issue in the industry and a mentality that needs some serious progression. As a human being, we should not be putting anyone in a box and judging based on gender stereotypes. I can only speak for myself and my own experiences, but I spend most of my week in the studio and haven’t been to a Sephora in years. Help me understand, do you think I’m really spending my time putting make up on or producing music competing in the same world we are all in? When I hear music I close my eyes and don’t envision a gender, I don’t see skin color, or how short or tall a person is, all I want to hear their music. I am very passionate about music and working hard to achieve my goals to success. I don’t think it’s impossible to be alongside all kinds of TALENTED PEOPLE in the Top 100. I think the point of all of this is: why are we not hearing the females in the industry’s music? What is it in the way women are being received? It is exactly that, that we have to focus on our looks to even begin to be acknowledged or is it something else? Enlighten me, because I think we all have a lot to learn.”
Check out VenessaMichaels’ music below.
H/T The Untz
