Abby Nissenbaum
Music City is home to musicians of all kinds — multiple races and gender identities, covering a huge range of styles and traditions from country to hip-hop to rock and beyond. Nashville is a physical manifestation of their dreams, a place where musicians can grow, hone their craft and feel safe through it all.
Unfortunately, that’s not the experience for everyone. A 2018 survey from the Music Industry Research Association revealed 67 percent of women in the music industry report they have been victims of sexual harassment, and 72 percent report having experienced discrimination in the workplace. It’s a harrowing reality that women in the music industry face every day, whether they’re performing in clubs or working in an office, and Nashville is not exempt.
Some artists are confronting this issue head-on. Abby Nissenbaum, a Connecticut-born and Nashville-based indie-rock and pop artist, has worked with organizations in her home state, like the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence and its Connecticut Safe Bars program, to raise money for sexual violence prevention and awareness. (Though its mission is similar, it’s not the same as the Safe Bar program developed in Nashville by the Sexual Assault Center.) Nissenbaum is expanding her advocacy efforts in her adopted hometown with a show at The Bowery Vault on Friday. She’ll join fellow musicians Miggie Snyder and Kate Cosentino (once a contestant on The Voice) for a performance benefiting the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence.
“In terms of venue-safety thinking … I’m a young woman,” Nissenbaum says. “I’m going to, potentially, venues alone, or with another accompanist. So how can we stop aggression in those places, and how can we make people feel more comfortable in those spaces?”
The Connecticut Safe Bars organization helps raise awareness of sexual violence, especially in situations where alcohol is involved. They often work with bar staff on bystander intervention training, giving them the tools to intervene in situations where it might be necessary. Nissenbaum hopes her support of the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence will not only raise money for similar awareness and prevention efforts, but also fight for clear legislation on preventing sexual violence — and preventing harm to people who want to help.
“I think those advocacy efforts are great because we’re preventing violence by nature of teaching people to intervene,” she says. “But the other side of that coin is that, when those people intervene, are they protected? Are they shielded from retaliation? Is there any amnesty given if they intervene in the wrong way, and more violence occurs? Those are the types of gaps that I particularly want to address as an artist and an activist.”
Abby Nissenbaum
This work overlaps with Nissenbaum’s study of social psychology; as a graduate student, she did research work on preventing sexual and gender-based violence. Her music dives into similar issues, exploring themes of power and agency. She offers a unique perspective to the overarching conversation surrounding power dynamics in the music industry as a young queer woman, and allows that to be a part of her work.
Nissenbaum released her latest EP Don’t Want to Cry Oct. 18. She hones in on indie pop, drawing inspiration from artists such as Uh Huh Her and Novo Amor. These influences give the work a sound you might hear mid-Aughts indie-pop artists make if they had access to contemporary gear and production techniques.
The song “Perfect Crime” takes a deep dive into the way sexual violence is often overlooked in the industry. Nissenbaum takes a stance on how women who report misconduct and sexual abuse are often brushed away or asked to stay quiet, as she sings: “Only abusers flourish in silence / If you did nothing wrong, then why try to hide it?”
“In general, people of influence tend to brush these accusations under the rug and silence the victims of their crime,” she says. “Either through NDAs [or] telling them that they’re not allowed, if they’re paid off, they’re not allowed to talk to police or doctors or anyone about what happened to them. I think that’s something that’s very prevalent in our society, and it’s not talked about enough.”
While sexual violence and enforcing a culture of silence about it can happen in any industry, Nissenbaum points out how strong the fear of retaliation can be in the music business.
“If you’re building a name for yourself, any one thing could prevent you from rising and being successful. … If you’re rising in the industry and someone powerful comes, engaging in violence against you, it’s just really tough.”
