“People Criticizing Me…”— DJ Soda Speaks Out About Sexual Predators After Being Victim Blamed For Assault
Famous DJ-influencer DJ Soda is speaking out against victim blaming after revealing she was sexually harassed during a recent performance.
On August 13, DJ Soda performed at Japan’s Osaka Music Circus Festival. Following her set, the DJ took to Instagram, revealing that she had been sexually harassed and groped by audience members when she entered the crowd to interact.
She shared a series of photos showing fans touching her inappropriately.
In her initial post, she shared how much it affected her and thought it would be hard to get close to fans again.
I was so surprised and scared, but there were fans who liked me and also cried a lot, so I tried my best to finish it imperturbably. Now I’m back at the hotel however I’m still very scared, and I’ve never ever experienced anything like this in my 10 years as a DJ. I’m so embarrassed and humiliated that I can’t believe this incident has happened. I think it’s going to be hard to get close to the fans from the stage. Good night.
— DJ Soda
Now DJ Soda has released another statement after being blamed for the sexual attack she experienced.
DJ Soda shared a lengthy message on her social media accounts, hoping to spread the message that “nothing [is] related between clothing and sexual criminal.”
It is nothing related between clothing and sexual criminal. You should never make the victim a problem and shift the blame for the crime. The cause is from the perpetrator, not the sexy clothes. pic.twitter.com/49pWc4Q9c4
— djsoda (@dj_soda_) August 21, 2023
It is nothing related between clothing and sexual criminal. You should never make the victim a problem and shift the blame for the crime. The cause is from the perpetrator, not the sexy clothes. The mindset that ‘wearing revealing clothes is a trigger for sexual violence’ is a very biased and androcentric view.
— DJ Soda
She then revealed that she had previously suffered sexual assault and harassment, first saying that when she was six years old, she was raped by a robber leading to her suffering from selective mutism.
DJ Soda also shares that she was sexually harassed by someone in the VIP section at the 2018 Spectrum Music Festival and overseas DJs during gigs. She states that others, including her former company, encouraged her to remain silent, but she no longer wants to hide.
“I was sexually harassed and molested several times throughout my life, and I thought I had to hide it and live as if nothing had happened. But now I don’t want to avoid or hide anymore. If I ignore this, someone else will inevitably become a victim. “Does being sexually harassed mean there’s a problem with victims?”. Why are you asking the victim for a cause? I think that perpetrators and secondary perpetrators are equally bad. It makes me sad that this is happening in 2023.”
She next addresses the allegations of her being anti-Japanese, saying that she included the location to be as accurate as possible. DJ Soda also says that something like this has never happened before and that she is used to touches from fans like hugging.
And so far, not a single person has ever deliberately put their hands inside my chest while performing. This is an indecent thing, not a simple touch. It’s fine to pull my arm or hug me. I am a person who likes to have interactions with my fans. My old fans would know about it well. But putting hands inside my chest is completely different from the interaction I’ve had with fans so far. If similar incident happened in other countries, I would have reacted the same way.
DJ Soda finishes her statement by questioning why society blames victims, saying that she wanted to change perceptions and support others that have been victims of sex crimes.
Did it happen because I purposely approached the crowd in revealing clothes? Why do people who have always been victimized have to think dozens of times and muster up the courage to speak up while taking the blame and bad influence that will be poured on us? It is so sad that this society blames the causes on the victim.
There are people criticizing me saying that I am an attention seeker, I hate Japan, and that they knew this would happen cause I wear reveavling clothes, but I also received a lot of messages from people supporting me and also from victims saying that they are encouraged by me. I hope that my message could help little to the victims.
If a person like me speaks up little by little in this way, wouldn’t society’s perception change a little bit someday?
On August 21, it was reported that two men had surrendered themselves to police in connection to the incident, with the festival’s organizers pursuing legal action against the perpetrators and those defaming and slandering DJ Soda online.
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