The world of standup has been rocked by allegations of sexual harassment and assault – and finally some men in the industry are vowing to tackle it
When US comedian Kelly Bachman found herself performing to a bailed Harvey Weinstein at a New York show in October 2019, she confronted him from the stage. But she was the only one who did, and later wrote in the New York Times: “A lot of the work in calling out rape, rapists, and rape culture unfortunately still falls on survivors … I want other people to speak up for us so that we don’t have to.”
Similar pleas have come from women and nonbinary comedians in the UK, after the latest round of #MeToo revelations this summer. Mae Martin, London Hughes, Eleanor Tiernan, Sofie Hagen and others asked for men to take over the conversation about sexism and sexual harassment. When the majority of stories involve a male perpetrator, surely men need to be the ones making changes?
