Iona Fyfe: Award-winning Scottish folk singer speaks out about being propositioned for sex in return for gig

Iona Fyfe, an award-winning Scottish folk singer, has spoken up about the time a man suggested she should sleep with him in order to secure a performing spot at a festival.

Speaking to BBC Drivetime on Tuesday, Ms Fyfe said that when she was 20-years-old she was propositioned by a man from a “really well-known band” who told her he would get her a gig if she was a "good friend".

The now 23-year-old, who was named 2018’s Scots singer of the year, said that while she was able to laugh it off, she is concerned that others may be more vulnerable and susceptible to advances of that nature.

She said: “One man from a really well-known band came up to me and said if we're good friends, and you do good things, what good friends do, then I could maybe look at getting you a slot at a festival.

“Now that in itself is not very nuanced. It was soliciting and it was misusing the power balance, taking advantage of the power balance.

"I was 20 at the time and I really didn't know what to do. My friend saw this and we were all just leaving a venue, and we just left the group and walked home.

"I wonder how many other young women that happens to.”

Iona Fyfe, award-winning Scottish folk singer, has spoken up about the time a man suggested she should sleep with him in order to secure a performing spot at a festival.

Ms Fyfe said that there is a lack of code of conduct for working relationships in folk music because it is “such an intrinsic part of everyone’s lives” which causes the boundaries to become blurred.

She said that securing gigs often comes down to contacts and “who you know” in the industry, something which she thinks people take advantage of.

The Bit Collective – a group dedicated to addressing equality issues in the Scottish folk scene – has set up a confidential email account for people to report sexual harassment, abuse and assault in the industry.

Through this it has learned of a widespread “disrespect and discrimination” of women, as well as a small number of rapes.

Mr Fyfe was prompted to share her own experience following singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor revealing that she lost her virginity at 17 when a 29-year-old guitarist raped her.

In her memoir she wrote: “I heard myself saying 'No' and 'I don't want to'.

"But it didn't make any difference".

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