Ed's note: Everyone is sick of talking about "the female DJ problem," especially female DJs. But dismissing the topic won't make the problem magically float away into a sea of gender equality—especially when videos like "What I See When A Girl Is A DJ" are going viral. Sexism in dance music culture is still very real, very prevalent, and very troubling. Without pigeonholing our favorite lady selectors into the "female DJ" stereotype, we want to keep this vital conversation alive—because that's the only way we'll see change.
Not that I think DJ Mag is much beyond birdcage lining when it comes to judging DJing, but it's still pretty unsettling that only three members of DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs is female. That disparity tells you all you need to know about the extreme systemic bias in the DJ game.
That said, despite the fact that I have spent time formulating my own thoughts about feminist theory, until recently, I had given pretty much zero thought to the mechanics of gender inequality in my own industry.
With so few female DJs in the game, you really don't hear much about their particular set of experiences. Are there clubs that just don't book women? Are there pay disparities? There are no statistics readily available, so who knows? Although Gary Richards from Hard Fest recently talked about throwing an all-female festival but mentioned, as an aside, "I wouldn't be able to pay them as much." He may have been well-intentioned, but that off-hand remark totally reinforces everything we're talking about.
I decided to get in touch with one of the baddest ladies in the game, Gun$ Garcia, to hear about her set of experiences and fill in our blind spots with a bit of color. A Brick Bandits-affiliated Philly resident, Gun$ Garcia has been killing dance floors and mentoring a new generation of DJs both male and female alike. Best known for her residency at Mad Decent Mondays and the estrogen powerhouse that is her Factory Girls party, she's also beat down most of Philly's young generation of DJs in a string of all-styles, whiskey-fueled DJ battles.
THUMP: Why do you think aren't there more women DJing?
Gun$ Garcia: I think in a lot of cases, women just don't really think of it as a career choice, because female DJs are so few and far between. I think the first DJ I had really ever heard of would have to have been DJ Jazzy Jeff sometime in the early 90's. I would have to say it was over 10 years until I saw a woman doing the same thing. DJing came from hip-hop and hip-hop is a male dominated genre...until recently.
How did you get into it?
My reason for getting into DJing is because of the lack of female presence. I would go to this open DJ [competition] at The Barbary and after a few times, I realized that no women had competed!
Seemed simple enough, I thought. I asked my boo, Dirty South Joe, to teach me how to play a 20 minute set, just so I could be the first girl to compete. He taught me how to do everything so that I could get through the 20 minutes seamlessly. I won that night and two other nights after that. And I've been DJing ever since.
Are we going to see more females in the scene in the future?
I am doing everything I can to make sure that that's the case. I've already taught two young women, DJ Suga Shay and Yolo Ono, how to DJ and I am currently working with two more, GhostPunch and Magglezzz. It's one of my life goals—to help as many women as I can succeed in the music industry.
What are some obstacles female DJs face that men are probably completely unaware of?
I think the main thing that women have to deal with more than the men is getting approached while DJing. I get a ridiculous amount of men hitting on me while I'm DJing. I don't know what it is about putting turntables in front of me that makes men find me totally approachable, when I think I'm otherwise pretty intimidating.
There have been some instances where I've been treated as if I don't know what I am doing, and might need help setting up my equipment. Whereas no one would ever suggest helping a man to DJ. They would never assume that he didn't know exactly what he was doing. But that's true in numerous fields, it's not relegated to female DJs.
When patrons come and tell me how "good I am for a girl" it boggles my mind. Should I respond by saying, "Wow, you're really smart, for a guy?!" I'm a damn good DJ, reproductive system aside.
Do you think the business side of the industry works differently for women?
Yes, everything works differently for men and women, especially when it comes to business. For me, there are a number of really cool current hip-hop parties that I'm sure I've never even been brought up as a candidate to be a guest DJ. But it was my mix that was listed in the top 40 rap albums of 2011 in Spin Magazine; I was the only female in any of these year-end lists for hip-hop, and yet I'm constantly overlooked for these gigs. I'm not sure if these men are afraid of letting me play to their crowds and flex all over their DJ skills, but I mean, that's just what I tell myself so I can sleep at night.
My DJ name, Gun$ Garcia, is not too gender-specific. So in some instances, people have expected me to be man. Once I was opening for Thunderheist, Rye Rye and Wallpaper. I just went ahead and set everything up and had a seat at the bar waiting for the show to start. A man comes up and starts barking at the bartenders, saying, "When's this 'Guns' guy getting here?! This is ridiculous!"
I've had to market myself much differently from how I would have if I was a male DJ. I've tried to make my performances more of a show, just so that it's something different. I always try to dress up, dance and turn up while I play to make sure I am having so much fun that the crowd can't help but have fun with me.
Do you feel an obligation to have more sex appeal than your male counterparts?
Absolutely. I have two different wardrobes, stage clothes and life clothes. I think women are just expected to be sexy if they want people to pay attention to them, no matter the talent that they are trying to showcase. Sex sells, we all know that.
Any advantages of being a woman in this industry?
Being a cute girl DJ that plays cool music is a much easier sell to promoters, than some middle aged guy DJ. But I would say I've seen a handful of women with very little DJ skills get booked for gigs they have no business even attending solely based on their good looks.
My advantage as a woman in this industry is that I know what other women want to dance to - DJ Sega once told me, "You know why you're good at this? Because you're a dancer and you know what people what to dance too." I cannot count the times before and after DJing was part of my life, that I was the first and last person on the dance floor.
Gun$ Garcia is the once and forever champ of "Fight Club," follow her - @gunsgarcia
Michael Fichman is a DJ, producer and writer living in Philadelphia - @djaptone