At the time of writing, in the central Canadian rave scene such exclusionary
practices as highlighted by Thornton appear to be largely absent, at least in the
trance, jungle/drum ‘n’ bass and Goa communities. In fact, many informants in
Toronto, Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa reported preferring rave events to clubs for
this reason. Although these divergent rave musical styles and event genres have
emerged, and often cater to particular socio-economic groups and ethnic
communities within metropolitan centres, many central Canadian raves still do
attract diverse ethnicities, classes and social groups, especially in the city of Toronto.
When I asked participants in Canadian metropolitan centres how they would
characterize the social atmosphere at raves, the typical answer I received was that
‘rave is totally open to anyone’. Fritz’s informants, many of whom were from
Canada’s west coast, expressed the same thing:
The value of rave culture is an acceptance of everyone and everything. If
you’re black you can come to my party, if you’re gay you can come to my
party, if you’re a beautiful woman you can come to my party. Everyone can
come and be themselves and be welcome and be free.
(Logan, a.k.a. ‘Beats Off’, in Fritz 1999:268)Raves are also renowned for their extremely low levels of violence. During the
height of rave in late 1980s Britain, rival football gangs could even be found
embracing each other at events while under the influence of ecstasy: they ‘were so
loved-up on E they spent the night hugging each other rather than fighting’
(Reynolds 1999:64; see also Silcott 1999:34). In addition to violence, sexual
difference and sexual tension are also markedly reduced at raves. Women report
being attracted to the rave scene because they feel safer there, and because they are
less likely to be propositioned by men (McRobbie 1994; Pini 1997; see also
Critcher 2000 on this). Female informants in the cities of Toronto, Montreal,
Quebec and Ottawa repeatedly stated that they greatly preferred raves to night-
clubs, as the sexual atmosphere at raves is much less aggressive. Some informants did
report being propositioned by men, but this was the exception rather than the rule.
Despite their heavy commercialization, mainstream Canadian raves in the trance,
jungle/drum ‘n’ bass and Goa genres do appear to create a social space where
difference, status and inequalities are temporarily suspended. As sites of dissolution
of the social and political distinctions through which states regulate their citizens, such
events therefore also possess an inherent danger for governing bodies. This is
undoubtedly one of the reasons why authorities in North America have begun to
adopt similar regulatory measures to those imposed upon ravers by the English
government in the early 1990s at the height of that country’s ‘moral panic’ about
rave culture (Thornton 1994).
92 TIM OLAVESON