Dear Community,

It has come to our attention that Steve Goodson, administrator of the popular Saxophones and Saxophone Equipment for Sale Facebook group, owner of Sax Gourmet, and guest on Anthony Bourdain’s television show Raw Craft has repeatedly engaged in intolerable advertising practices and promoted the objectification of female bodies. Additionally, The behavior demonstrated in his comments and the comment sections of his photos raise further concern. Please see the link below for screenshots of the ads and comments. Caution, the following selected examples are particularly graphic.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1pLA8NgfpaieW5EZGJlNFhHSms

Ron Holloway: “WOW!! I’d like to clamp my embouchure around one of THOSE(nipples)!!...”

Tim Luers: Yeah, but I was trying to blow up her skirt

David Cabage: “So, why the frigg, am I seeing nipple picks? Steve Goodson: “It helps sell saxophones...”

(Seeking screenshots of) “I’ll tell you where I would like to put my Sax Gourmet (mouthpiece)…”

(Seeking screenshots of) Steve Goodson: “There are not that many women saxophonists and they don’t shop with me, so I do not care…”

There is no place in our community for this type of advertising or behavior. It directly contributes to sexual violence and harassment against women, and creates hostile working and learning environments by dehumanizing female bodies. We believe that inaction will only affirm a lack of accountability within the saxophone and music community and proliferate the objectification and oppression of female-identifying artists, educators, and students.

We must stress that this is not an isolated incident within the saxophone or music community but rather a more overt demonstration of the sexist ideologies and apathy of male-identifying saxophonists that are pervasive throughout the industry (see The Bad Plus + sexism, one of many examples).

Please take this opportunity to reflect on how this type of behavior impacts female-identifying artists, educators, and students in your immediate sphere of influence and join us as we pursue the following actions.

Ask Griffin Campbell (President), Christopher Creviston (President-elect), and James Romain (Membership Director) of the North American Saxophone Alliance, and Robin Walenta (Chair), and Joe Lamond (President/CEO) of the National Association of Music Merchants to publicly ban Saxgourmet and Steve Goodson from all events and memberships. This is especially important for events that host youth saxophonists and young students. If these organizations are endeavoring to create events and environments that support women in their field, this behavior stands directly against those efforts. Public condemnation would affirm that their is no place in their organization for sexist behavior. (contact info at bottom) If you have access to the Saxophones and Saxophone Equipment for Sale Facebook group, Please post a message on the group’s discussion board (see below). We recognize that this will cause you to be removed from the page. Since Steve removes anyone who posts dissenting opinions, we are unable to reach many of the subscribers. Therefore the goal is to inundate the page with a unified message that this behavior will not be tolerated by our community. “Steve Goodson’s (group admin) sexist advertising and objectification of female bodies has no place in the saxophone community. Furthermore his insistence that it makes him a lot of money demonstrates that he has no concern for the wellbeing of women in our field. Please consider copying and pasting this message on the group board and force him to remove you as he has removed all others who have opposed this behavior.” If you are “friends” with Steve Goodson on Facebook please take an opportunity to send him a message expressing your views about the behavior and mentality before removing him as a friend. While simple and of low impact to Steve’s business, any female youth saxophonists who witnesses his actions and see your association with him as a “friend” may feel less than welcome to share their concerns with you, or worse, assume you condone the behavior. End all business dealings with Steve Goodson, Sax Gourmet, Steve Goodson’s Nation of Music, and any other businesses that he is associated with. As Steve has stated numerous times, he has made an abundance of money off the objectification of female bodies. It is time for that to stop irregardless of any perceived quality to the products Write to Anthony Bourdain on twitter and email The Balvenie (co-creators) and request that Steve’s episode on Raw Craft be canceled from future showings and that Mr. Bourdain make a public statement condemning the behavior of the person he had on his show. Steve Goodson should not be a national representative of the saxophone manufacturing industry or the broader saxophone community in any way. (contact info at bottom)

This letter will remain open for signatures and further edits by female identifying musicians, educators, students, repair technicians among others upon request. Thank you again for your consideration of this important message. For equality to be achieved this must be everyone’s everyday work!

Signed,

Ann Bradfield, Crystal Stohr-Hall, Katie Kerick, Amy King, Alyssa Lenell-White, Amber Pollock, Maycee Spence, Sam Thurmond, Tyler Cessor

Contact Info:

North American Saxophone Alliance: Griffin Campbell (President) - gcampbe@lsu.edu Christopher Creviston (President-Elect) - Christopher.Creviston@asu.edu James Romain (Membership Director) - james.romain@drake.edu

Anthony Bourdain: Twitter: @Bourdain #RawCraft and contact co-hosts The Balvenie at: @BalvenieUS and https://us.thebalvenie.com/contact-us

National Association of Music Merchants: send mail to: Attn: Robin Walenta (Chair) and Joe Lamond (President/CEO) or call:

NAMM

Telephone: +1.760.438.8001

Fax: +1.760.438.7327

Toll Free Member Hotline: 1-800-767-6266

Mailing Address:

NAMM

5790 Armada Drive

Carlsbad, CA 92008 USA