Earlier this year Vanyaland ran a feature on a Yes All Women benefit show in Cambridge, talking to each of the participants about what the grassroots cause means to them. Since then, there have been countless situations, news stories, and incidents of general misogynistic fuckery around the world and here in New England that prove there’s still work to be done.
This weekend, the team behind Yes All Women Boston take on the Middle East in Cambridge for another benefit and awareness show, this time supporting My Life My Choice, an organization “that works to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of adolescents through survivor-led programs that educate and empower youth to find their voice and create a positive life path while working to eliminate the violence and victimization of sexual exploitation.”
The show, billed Endless Summer, features music from 2015 Rock And Roll Rumble finalists the Static Dynamic and Vanya faves The Wrong Shapes, as well as Hope & the Husbands, Alchemilla, and New York City’s Sonic China Doll. Advance tickets are available here.
The focus of the evening is centered around not only providing safe spaces, but celebrating those who contribute to it and fostering it into something bigger.
“Yes All Women Boston is about creating venues for artistic expression that are free from the oft-experienced sexism and sexual harassment that crops up in our world,” says co-organizer Jess Jacobs of Band Without Hands. “It’s quite common to experience sexual harassment — hell, it happened at and after the Rumble — and for some who are trauma survivors, it can be very triggering and difficult. We like to donate our proceeds to organizations whose missions are similar, as we believe in supporting our community — it takes a village! Change is happening and it’s a beautiful thing, but we still have a lot of work to do to get everybody on the same page. This is our humble contribution to the struggle that continues in the name of equality.”
That sentiment is shared by co-organizer Madeleine Unstraight, who stresses that Yes All Women Boston “is all about acknowledgment, empowerment, visibility, and giving back.” She adds: “Acknowledgement of the hard work that women have done to be respected (sometimes having to work harder than men to be recognized for the same thing), empowerment to encourage women to take up space and go for their goals, visibility to see women be in positions and do things that at one time were men-only, and giving back by supporting charitable and social justice efforts in the community.”
Unstraight notes that while Yes All Women Boston currently focuses on live music and making a difference at shows, the goal is to eventually expand into the art scene, lectures, and other centers for creatives.
In the meantime, preview the bands performing this Saturday via the respective Bandcamp links, and check the flyer after the embed jump for additional information on the show.
