When you find your DJ cred questioned by New York magazine, whose writer openly admits knowing next to nothing about the DJ realm, you know you’ve crossed a line. DJ Mag got itself into this fix by celebrating 25 musical pioneers on the cover of its 25th anniversary issue without including a single female face. New York wasn’t the only publication that took New York to task over this faux pas, though. The Fader called them out about it too, and they’ve presumably got people on staff who can name more than five DJs off the top of their head.
To make matters worse, it wasn’t even an oversight. An editorial statement read, “The main issue we came across was the inclusion (or lack of inclusion) of any women (something mentioned in the editor’s letter). Eventually, after a painstaking process, we concluded that of the 25 we have chosen none can be refuted and made a conscious decision to avoid tokenism.” Obviously there’s no denying the talents of Richard D. James, Goldie, Jeff Mills, et al. But really, no room for Ellen Allien, Anja Schneider, Nina Kraviz, etc.?
To make matters worse, the statement goes on to say “We’re wholly aware that — sadly — the dance music industry is — even today — male-dominated and we’ve continually sought to address this balance in the pages of our magazine and via our online channels. In February, we ran a Women In Dance Music special to spur debate around the issue. We never have and will not shy away from supporting female DJs in our pages.”
Um, guys…did you ever think maybe this male domination you seem so sad and helpless about might be perpetuated by disincluding women from features like this? Just throwing it out there…