#WLC Toolbox Series: Supporting Sexual Violence Survivors

As much as we wish it weren’t true, sexual violence IS a problem in nightlife, EDM, music, and festival community. Based on your responses to our recent Instagram story poll, 60% of you have experienced sexual harassment or assault in festival or nightlife settings and 74% of you have witnessed someone being sexual harassed, touched without consent, or ... Read more

Consent, COVID, & Dating

By: Sloane Ferenchak, #WeLoveConsent Coordinator; Gina McGrath, Consent Culture Initiative Founder/CEO; & Ashley Stafford, Consent Culture Initiative Executive Director If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that life during a pandemic is difficult to navigate! The risks associated with COVID have required us to use communication skills that are ... Read more

#WeLoveConsent: Do Year Resolutions

Happy Do Year from #WeLoveConsent Have you ever flirted with someone who wasn’t sober? Has someone borrowed your things without asking? Have you had a sexual encounter with someone who was way older or younger than you? Received an uncomfortable and unwanted hug from a stranger – or a relative? Been the person who gave that hug, and felt uncertain ... Read more

Why Does DanceSafe Release Test It! Alerts?

By: Rachel Clark, Programs & Communications Coordinator Greetings, DanceSafers! As many of you know, we routinely release Test It! Alerts that detail the appearance, location, and contents of adulterated drugs around the country based on Erowid’s DrugsData Project and community-submitted entries. We believe that this information on its own is useful ... Read more

Ketamine Bladder Damage – What You Need to Know

Using ketamine can be fun, and recent studies have shown it to have antidepressant effects. (1) But using it too often can damage your bladder and result in a serious condition known as Ketamine Bladder Syndrome (a.k.a. Ketamine Cystitis). Your bladder is a round sac behind your pelvic bone that holds urine. It is about the size of a grapefruit, but can ... Read more

DanceSafe partners with Rave Scout Cookies to bring harm reduction education to underrepresented underground communities

DanceSafe National has teamed up with Rave Scout Cookies to release the First Aid + Survival Guideline handbook and the live-stream of digital events, which will feature harm reduction tips for various popular recreational substances, including anecdotal accounts from DanceSafe leaders and others in the community. The now-and-again publication will also ... Read more

DanceSafe & Safe Sex: A Guest Blog from Beforeplay.org

DanceSafe is centered on health and safety in the electronic music world, but what about health and safety after you head home from an event and slip between the sheets with that special dancing someone? That’s where Beforeplay.org comes in. Beforeplay.org is around to help “normalize” conversations about sexual health and make sure we can all have ... Read more

Risk Assessment

What is a risk? A risk is the potential of suffering some form of harm or loss. What is risk assessment? Risk assessment is always a risk/benefit assessment. Can recreational drug use have benefits? What determines the weight of a risk? The risk of death. What is risk assessment? Risk assessment is the mental process of measuring the risks involved in ... Read more

Getting Home Safely

Driving home in the morning after staying awake all night partying can be dangerous. Sleep deprivation and intoxication severely impair your reflexes and ability to perceive your environment quickly, putting other people (and yourself) at risk. Definite Don’ts Don’t drive if you have been been using drugs, in general. (Yes, including alcohol ... Read more

Hearing Protection

You are at risk of hearing loss Hearing damage can take the form of temporary or permanent ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and loss of the ability to hear clearly. Amplified music can cause noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). A 2020 study by the University of Manchester showed that young people with the highest levels of recreational noise exposure (like ... Read more