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When COVID restrictions were lifted in 2021, Rach Brosman, like many of us, wanted to be outside. She started going to raves, where she found a nightlife community that would go on to become some of her closest friends. But after a while, she couldn’t help but think about how most of the lineups of the shows she was going to consisted almost exclusively of men, with maybe one woman DJ doing an opening set here and there. She quit her job in December of last year and decided that she would try to do something about it.
“After quitting, I thought, ‘If I’m not seeing enough women at these raves, why don’t I make my own show?’” she tells Time Out. “Within one week I knew like one hundred women DJs, so it’s funny to me when people say there’s not enough of them.” That’s how her collective, Support Women DJs, was born.
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Support Women DJs had their first event on February 9 at the Sultan Room in Bushwick, and their party sold out—Brosman says that approximately 60% of the attendees were women, and that the crowd was pretty, queer, too. The rooms were packed and the vibe was so good that a security guard talked to Brosman after the event to tell her the party had some of the best and most respectful vibes of any party he’d seen. Support Women DJ’s second party is coming up this Saturday, March 9, at Eris in East Williamsburg, and all proceeds from the event will go towards the NYC-based Violence Intervention Program (VIP), a Latina-led organization that provides healing, housing, and economic justice to thousands of survivors of domestic violence.
The March 9 party is going to have a main stage playing house music, techno in the downstairs basement area, and a lounge-y area that is going to play deep house. There will be raffle giveaways and a glambar from a brand called Astro Babe that specializes in festival makeup. The DJs for the upcoming event include Cindee Jay, Branqueeno, Aezon, Ms Packman, DJ Sana, Taser, Tara Kay, E-Mood, and Bad Jasmine.
"So many clubs and bars are owned by men who are also DJs themselves and they’re all friends with each other so it’s all a boys club right now."
When we asked Brosman why she thinks women DJs are having a harder time gaining visibility, she thinks that it has a lot to do with who gets to be in the rooms where decisions are made. “So many clubs and bars are owned by men who are also DJs themselves and they’re all friends with each other so it’s all a boys club right now,” she says. “I even had a woman DJ say to me that it’s as if you have to date them or sleep with them to get on a lineup. It feels that difficult.” The more she’s spoken with women DJs, the more she realized how prevalent sexism is in the production side of nightlife, and she’s had women DJs talk to her about being groped behind the DJ booth, having promoters ask them out and just generally feeling way more disrespected than their male counterparts.
For a specific type of New York man, becoming a DJ is the ultimate flex, the perfect combination of a creative gig that requires little emotional intelligence while still providing a disproportionate level of clout. But the DJ market is so saturated with men that the DJ has become an archetype to avoid, not dissimilar to the podcaster: It’s such a problem that viral memes implore men to stop trying to become DJs because what we actually need is more plumbers, more doctors, or basically anything else.
Women, on the other hand, are grossly underrepresented in the DJ market. They account for just about one-third of all DJs, per CareerExplorer, but they’re generally preferred—Female DJs get booked twice as often than male DJs, per Mixed Mag.
There’s plenty of reasons someone might prefer to book women DJs. For one, they tend to be more attuned to what’s going on at a party, according to Brosman. “Women have a natural capability of empathy, and being a DJ is reading the crowd, reading the room,” she says. “Women also bring other women out to the club.” Bringing more women and queer people to the club tends to create an environment that feels more like a community and more safe than spaces curated by cis men.
Brosman hopes that the events will grow throughout different parts of New York and continue to focus on local DJs. “I would love to encourage men to come out to see what women DJs can do and the energy they bring to the dance floor,” she says. “But also for men in the industry to come out and see the talent that’s out there so they can be booking more women DJs.”
You can get your tickets for the upcoming party here and follow them on Instagram for updates. After their March 9 event, their next events will take place on March 29 at TBA in Williamsburg and April 27 at Virgo in Manhattan.