Deborah De Luca calls out sexism in the electronic music scene

Deborah De Luca has called out the electronic music scene for the sexism still aimed at female DJs. The Italian techno star used her Instagram this week to share an unfiltered breakdown of comments she and her peers face about clothing, image and professionalism.

“Men who go shirtless during their sets are fine, but a woman who doesn’t wear a t-shirt but ‘dares’ to wear something more low-cut or feminine, and then comments about their NON-professionalism rain down,” she wrote.

Crucially, Deborah went on to list the digs women hear regularly. “Fake DJ”, “USB DJ”, “are you a model or a DJ?”, “are you a dancer or a DJ?”, and even “only fans DJ”. As a result, the post quickly hit a nerve across the techno community.

Notably, she pointed out the gendered double standard at the heart of it. “None of these comments ever appear on the profiles of men who go shirtless during their sets, why?” she asked. Furthermore, she flagged that the criticism sometimes comes from other women too.

Indeed, Deborah has spent 18 years in the scene. She closed with one of her sharpest lines yet. “I find all this misogynist and sexist in an embarrassing way. Welcome to the 1800s.”

Meanwhile, the post drew quick support from across the industry. Sara Landry and Charlotte de Witte showed up in the comments. In turn, the discussion lit up across techno fan accounts.

Still, the point lands cleanly. Equally, Deborah de Luca wants the conversation to shift toward skill, not appearance. In short, what a DJ wears should never decide how their work gets judged.