The immediate effect was profound. She saw more bookings as a male DJ, than she did as a female DJ. But the differences didn’t stop there. Tatiana recalls actually doing shows where they would just let her be because she was a “man”. They didn’t watch what she was doing unlike when she would DJ as a woman. Tatiana says that “when you’re a female, there are always other people on stage watching what you’re doing. They think you’re stupid and say the most condescending, amazing things, but when you’re a man they just leave you alone.”
The one thing that was the most difficult to hide was her feminine voice. The answer was to create a buffer zone between her. She enlisted the help of a friend to pose as “his” girlfriend. She also would make herself as unapproachable as possible. She actually took to studying Eminem because she saw how unapproachable he was and that seemed to work.
All this subversion took it’s toll on Tatiana. Going to the bathroom was out of the question until she got home. She even was in a relationship when all of this started. That relationship ended shortly there after though. Her boyfriend at the time saw her as a man and couldn’t quite handle it. “When he first saw me dressed as a guy he was freaked out and couldn’t look me in the eye. We never got together again after that.”
After about a year of being Matt/Musikillz, Tatiana decided to give up on the charade. After all, she had proven her point that men will do better in the industry than woman will with an equal amount of talent. The problem was that nobody knew this was going on. She went back to DJing as Tatiana Alvarez and shared her story. This whole story actually sounds like a Hollywood Movie, right? You would be correct and that is actually happening. Producers from Warner Brothers have actually purchased the rights to her life story and have kept her on the project as a musical liason. She also has say in who she would like to play her. Her top choice? Jennifer Lawrence.
Even after all of the efforts Tatiana has made, she still believes that this industry is very much a man’s world. There are a lot of female DJs out there, but the paradigm of men being paid more than women for equal work still exists. She knows that for a female DJ to succeed, they are going to have to produce music as well much like how the Nervo twins are succeeding in their careers.
What do you think about sexism in the EDM industry? Is it more prevalent than in other aspects of our culture? Or is this a commonplace issue, found in all types of professions? Have any of our female readers dealt with this kind of sexism in your specific industry? Comment below, on our Facebook or Twitter.
Source: The Telegraph
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