CONTENT WARNING: The following article discusses alleged sexual assaults.
Brisbane based musician Jaguar Jonze, real name Deena Lynch, appeared on The Project to speak with Lisa Wilkinson about her own experiences with sexual assault for the show’s special investigation into the music industry’s #MeToo moment that is currently unfolding.
Lynch spoke candidly about an incident early on in her career where she was allegedly sexually assaulted by two producers whom she was approached about collaborating with.
After working together for a week, Lynch went out with the two men and one of her friends to a gig at a local club. After her friend left the club, she says both producers’ demeanours towards her completely shifted.
“I had spent the entire evening with my friend next to me,” she said. “As soon as my friend left there was a really quick change in behaviour. [The two producers] straight away went for it. Grabbing me. Being very sexual towards me. The language changed. The behaviour changed.
“It started with just the one producer. And then when I found an opportunity, I went to the second producer. When I sat down with the second producer and said, ‘Hey, your colleague is making me feel extremely uncomfortable’ … he replied, ‘That’s normal behaviour when he is intoxicated, don’t worry about it.’
“Then he himself, when I confided in him, began to do the exact same thing that the first producer did. Running his hand down my thighs, telling me my boyfriend didn’t need to know.
“I was verbally constantly saying, ‘No, no, no.'”
Lynch said that in the months that followed the incident, she was contacted regularly by one of the two men.
“One of the producers constantly messaged me for six months after the incident, to make sure that he knew that he was watching everything I did,” she said.
“He would drop hints and constantly put pressure about how he hoped that we can let this go, that I let this go, that we can be friends in the future, he cares deeply about me.
“It was a lot of different tactics from different angles to silence me.”
Lynch first brought this alleged toxic sexual harassment culture to light back in July last year, where she talked publicly on her social media about the alleged crimes committed against her by the aforementioned two producers, as well as lending her voice in solidarity with 45 other women who said they were victims of sexual harassment from an unnamed male photographer.
The Project interview with Lynch comes on the same day a bombshell investigation by The Brag Media has come to light.
The investigation alleges multiple instances of sexual assault and harassment, some of which took place at BIGSOUND. The investigation details four women’s experiences, including an allegation that six years ago, Rosie Fitzgerald of I Know Leopard was raped by a producer at the annual conference.
Watch Jaguar Jonze’s full interview with Lisa Wilkinson on The Project below.
If you need assistance, 1800 RESPECT – the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service — can be reached on 1800 737 732.
For help or information regarding mental health, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.
