Justin James is Giving us a Chance to Talk About Sexism and We Need To Take It

And the barrage continues, the band plays on, and in our case, the beat never stops or drops, we just keep it going.

A few days ago in the Nap Girls Facebook group, these screen shots were shared.

 

By now (Factmag, pilerats) most are familiar with the heinous acts of this DJ Justin James, that no one has ever heard of and now that no one ever will (or that everyone has but will soon forget), at least not for his music or his DJing abilities or anything related to talent or craft or anything but trying to use sexism to his benefit.  This makes him a douche, plain and simple. The editorial staff and many of the members of the nap girls group had some other choice words, but for the sake of keeping journalistic integrity, you all may use your imaginations.

Honestly though, f*ck journalistic integrity. And f*ck this dude, an amateur who probably doesn’t himself even know what a proper EPK would look like if it…Okay, higher ground here. Many of my colleagues in the industry, the women and men I write with and the many professionals with whom we hold in high regard, have come out to say a lot of things about the purely stupid actions of one man. This twitter page is particularly interesting. Some are too angry to make words, but others have discussed how important accountability is, and that it really is time to recognize and do something about gender inequalities, and all other things wrong and f*cked up about the way not only this industry, but all industries, do business.

Then this guy sends off a statement yesterday. alleging that his words were misunderstood. He is the one misunderstanding, further proving his ignorance in all matters woman. He has the nerve to say that some of his favorite DJs are females, listing a slew of women who probably would be embarrassed with this affiliation. Not to mention the most racist comment people make is that their best friend is black, asian, insert race here. None of which negates culpability for racist or sexist remarks, by the way. Because Annie Mac, Anna Lunoe, or any of the other bad bitches on that list, including DJ Spinderalla would probably not even want to cut it up with you one dime, deplorable sir.

There is no apology for all of the things he said, and no admittance to his irreparable actions. He defends himself with the same rigor and cojones that landed him in this mess in the first place, and I hate to tell him but the wrath of the people he offended comes to bat with way bigger balls. There is no reprieve for this man or his behavior, and this ass backwards defense of himself still seems as though he is interested in saving face. Sorry dude, face no longer able to be saved.

Sorry not sorry.

It matters little anymore of his stature or lack thereof in the industry. All that matters are the implications he made about men being the only sex with talent, and using age, weight, and height standards to recruit female DJs. Because, of course only a woman under 5 foot 6, 120 lbs, and 32 years old would be able to DJ well? This is not about backfiring at him, giving him any more attention than he has already received, or even ruining his career. He has handled that last one pretty well, and we need not even speak his insignificant name any longer. This is now quite simply about what he did and letting people know that it is not okay.

We are all smart enough to understand just how f*cked up the statements he made are, so there isn’t much need to dwell on those comments. Especially because it shouldn’t be about spreading negativity. The fact that these words even exist, have been put on the internet and will live there forever, and are being spread around is enough negativity. But it is completely necessary to prove a point. That is, that equality is something that should already be a real thing. On all fronts; in all shapes, sizes and forms.

An article from Thump published today, had this quote from one of the women that immediately discovered the posts in a Female DJ Support Group on Facebook: “He’s completely supporting the patriarchal capitalist structures of how the business works. He’s not trying to fight it at all,” Palmestål added.

Here is a quote from Dani Deahl, a female DJ and Nap Girl, recently appointed Editor At Large at DJ Mag, and Web Editor at NYLON:

” I want people to look beyond Justin James and see that this is only proof that, as long as we have come, we have a long way to go. I want people to be productive abut the issue – don’t spend energy yelling at an individual, but think about how you can model change around you. A lot of people would insist sexism doesn’t exist, and then boom, something like this comes around.”

Sound advice. She wrote this beautiful article today articulating everything that I did not here in this a bit angry and swayed editorial, for NYLON, which went live earlier today. Lets band together to stop this disturbing trend and have a real conversation about how we can improve things.  The point on this article and this entire situation is not to go troll Justin James on his social media accounts, but to spark a discussion on how we can better the entire situation.  

Would this story have been covered by Yahoo,  Thump, Magnetic Mag, etc. if he had apologized in a professional manner to begin with? Probably not and THAT IS THE PROBLEM. Someone 2 days ago could have said that sexism isn’t happening in this industry when it clearly is. Now that it’s on full display and it has your attention, think about what you can do to better the environment for everyone involved.

In closing, Kaskade is the man.

You’re welcome! #ProTip: stay away from Justin James.https://t.co/VIWf4nPpms

— Kaskade (@kaskade) February 3, 2016

Justin James is Giving us a Chance to Talk About Sexism and We Need To Take It