Isabella Manfredi of The Preatures talks #MeToo and sexual misconduct in the music industry on Q&A

The Preatures’ Isabella Manfredi has weighed into the discussion around sexual misconduct in the music industry, speaking in detail about her own experiences on Q&A last night.

Manfredi joined the ABC program panel yesterday, and spoke about the #MeToo movement. She first spoke out about sexual harassment in her own #MeToo post in 2017 – in a Facebook post on The Preatures’ page that was shared over 100 times.

An audience member asked her about how her career had changed since that post, and in response Manfredi thanked the #MeToo movement for the oppotunity to start conversations about the topic with those in her life.

“it gave me a chance, and my post gave me a chance to not only have conversations with other women, but to have conservations with the men in my life that I’d never been able to have,” she said. “Real, honest conversations.”

“I think for me the best thing was just being able to talk to my band honestly about what it is like to be a woman in the music industry, and with my management and with people at my label.”

She mentioned that most of her experiences with sexual misconduct happened in the US, and highlighted how hard it is to speak out against someone who is in a position of power, or a “gatekeeper” to your success in the industry.

When Manfredi was asked about how her male band members’ experiences have changed since the post, she spoke eloquently about how men need to be engaged about the subject.

“The greatest thing is to lean forward to men and go ’We really need you guys to take some responsibility for this as well.’

“That doesn’t mean that it’s your fault. In fact, fault and responsibility are two different things.

“We seem to equate them with the same thing in our society, that for some reason taking responsibility means exepting blame or accepting fault. In fact, it doesn’t. The true meaning of responsibility means to respond to a situation, to be responsive.”