Yes All Women Boston: On making change through a music movement

By Sydney Moyer

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If you’ve logged into Twitter lately, it’s likely you’ve seen at least one #yesallwomen hashtag floating around. It’s part of a larger campaign to raise awareness about harassment and gendered violence against women after the Isla Vista killings last spring. Through this hashtag, thousands of women have created a safe space to share their experiences and just why their conversation matters. Enter Yes All Women Boston, extending its message through art, spoken word and—most exciting to us—local rock shows to actualize real life misogyny and violence against women. We sat down with Jess Jacobs, YAWB’s music director, and talked about women in music, beginning a movement, and their upcoming gig at TT’s (details here).

Allston Pudding: So you’re the organizer of Yes All Women Boston. Did you start it?

Jess Jacobs: I actually didn’t start it– the group was initially quite large. It was started by Bonnie Tacheron in response to the #yesallwomen hashtag conversation that happened on Twitter right after the Santa Barbara killings. So initially, because people were so incensed, they got together, maybe about 100 of us right away. It got a bit ahead of itself. As the passion for the moment waned, we pared down to just doing these rock shows for now, and then once we get that started, maybe later this year we can tackle gallery openings, or even just a wall out of the blue or something like that. Basically, we’re just trying to create safe spaces for women’s voices to be heard…but in the idea of promoting gender equality. So we’re not like a ‘rah rah rah, women are way better’ kind of thing– that’s not the mission. It’s all about giving girls and women a fair shot.

AP: Absolutely.

JJ: The way I think about it is, with this next show, we’re doing it as a benefit for Girls Rock Camp, which is where a lot of the people who work with us come from. Girls Rock Camp is this pretty big organization that has summer camp sessions for girls aged about 7-17, and over a week, they learn an instrument well enough to write a song, then they form bands, and then, at the end of the week, they perform their songs live– usually at somewhere like TTs or Brighton Music Hall. And that’s pretty cool– I know if I had had that  when I was in high school, it would have been really encouraging. Because sometimes it can be a boy’s club, and it’s neither here nor there why that happens; the important thing is that there are measurable statistics to say that a girl’s confidence in herself and musically before they go to this camp and their confidence afterwards is drastically different. So if we can give the next generation of lady rockers something to look up to, if we say ‘hey, look at all these women who are rocking out and supporting our rock camp by putting on these shows’, I feel like that’s major, and super inspirational for a kid.

And it’s more than that, too. Just to sort of raise awareness about domestic violence, or any kind of gendered violence, whether it’s towards women, men, trans people– let’s just knock it off.

AP: Definitely. And why structure it around music or the arts specifically?

JJ: Yeah! So, basically our mission statement is to create safe spaces for women’s voices to be heard, to speak out about experiences of gendered harassment or violence: similar to the way the #yesallwomen hashtag works. I mean, I saw people in my network who were talking about things publicly for the first time: things that they had maybe been sitting on for ten, fifteen years. So it’s really meant to follow in that vein.

AP: So how do you think the creation of these spaces, both online on places like Twitter and offline like Yes All Women Boston, play a role in changing the culture around gender inequality issues and gendered violence?

JJ: I think the biggest role it plays is just visibility and awareness. I certainly have lots of friends who wouldn’t know all of my personal story– which does include some violence– they wouldn’t know that if there wasn’t a space where I felt comfortable enough to talk about it. Because there is a stigma, especially when you look back at all the conversations when the #yesallwomen hashtag started, that comes from men and women (but especially men), where they’re kind of like “Don’t talk about it, you’re bringing the room down!” or “Debbie Downer” or like, “Hey, I’m not that guy!” No– these are important things that people need to talk about. So I think that that’s the main goal. If we can all just talk about these things, it’s much better than withholding them and harboring resentment on both sides. And if no one talks about it, no one knows it’s happening, when in reality, I think it’s something like one in four women [note: one in three] will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. And it seems like less in your personal network because there’s not a place that’s ‘appropriate’ to discuss it.

When you think about artists like Tori Amos and Fiona Apple back in the 90s… I remember when they were talking about shit that had happened to them, and all this criticism came back at them! I think Fiona Apple was called the poster child for rape, or something like that. This is terrible shit!

AP: Yes, definitely. I think communities like this play a huge part in creating that awareness and starting that conversation. And I think there is a really special community of musicians here in Boston, but, at least from my own experience, it seems (especially for a city that’s so liberal and so queer) very straight, white, male and cis. What has your experience been within that community?

JJ: Well, I’m from southern New Hampshire and was around here a lot growing up, so I’ve definitely experienced a lot of that. I also think Boston has a class issue which definitely comes into play. It seems like both sides are empowered, or feel like they’re empowered, by their class. So the rich think they’re better than everybody else, and the poor also think they’re better than everyone else, because if you’re not like them, then you’re an asshole or whatever…in terms of the music scene, I’ve personally received nothing but support from people…although that comes after you’ve established yourself as a person within that scene. But you know, you do still have the instance where you walk into the club and, as the frontwoman in an otherwise all-male band who also deals with all the logistics and is the audio engineer…you kind of get disregarded, like ‘oh you couldn’t possibly be in charge of the band.’ Most of the time if we walk in as a group, the questions are directed towards the men– I mean, that shit still exists. It’s still a default behavior…chauvinism is out there, whether it’s accidental or on purpose. It’s why we want to do this stuff– women lead bands too!

AP: Yeah, it’s interesting because I feel like, especially in music, you’ll see these spaces that are specifically for women. Every once in a while, you’re like, “Oh shit, this is still a thing that needs to be created.” Like, we still need to have the list that says the 20 best female artists of the year, not just the 20 best artists of the year, 10 of which are women. And that problem still seems especially prevalent in the music industry.

JJ: Yeah, very much so. And comedy too! I watched this documentary on Netflix the other day, I can’t remember the title.

AP: Was it Women Aren’t Funny?

JJ: Yeah! And I just thought it was fascinating that when all these people were asked about why they thought that, they were just like ‘well, they’re not funny!’ But look at the amount of women who even get the chance to get booked because that’s your attitude…and I feel like it’s probably similar musically. And I think it’s always kind of assumed that women are like…vaginas and flowers or whatever. It’s just not true! There are plenty of chicks in metal bands, plenty of chicks making the whole gamut of music! So it’s a weird attitude to have.

AP: So what kind of show can we expect from this next Yes All Women benefit at TTs?

JJ: You can expect a lot of really good bands! It’s ambitious to try to put seven on a bill in one night, but we will do it! There’s a pretty good variety too. We have everything from hard rock to more singer-songwriter types to party rock, to Solo Sexx at the end. I haven’t had the chance to see them live yet, but I’ve seen some of their videos. They’re two emcees and a DJ and they’re gonna rip it up. So yeah, huge variety– there’s something for everyone.

AP: Nice! And you guys at Yes All Women Boston are entirely volunteer-run– what can people do to get involved?

JJ: Hm, I would love for some visual art people to get involved. I’d love to see more events with art galleries happen later this year. People can get in touch with us anytime- there’s a signup on our website, or they can get in touch via Facebook or Twitter.

Yes All Women Boston is throwing their next show at TT the Bear’s Place in Central Square on 1/30. All proceeds will go to Girls Rock Camp Boston. YAWB is also planning a summer festival and are looking for some great bands to fill the lineup. If you’re in a band, get in touch!