The pop punk scene is having a bad time at the moment. It seems we can’t go very long without someone coming forward saying that a band has been abusing or mistreating women and it always seems to be the same cycle. Someone opens up about an incident, lots of people call her an attention whore, lots of people say to her “well why haven’t you gone to the police?” and lots of people then discuss what is going wrong here that this thing keeps happening.

The punk scene, no matter which branch of it you’re in, should be a safe space for everyone involved and Hayley Williams is right: no more excuses for people who threaten that safe space.

This thing of instantly throwing “Why don’t you tell the police?/Why didn’t you tell the police?” at someone who has just opened up about an incident infuriates me. 68% of sexual assaults go unreported. Women are made to feel ashamed and they are scared to open up when things like this happen to them, mostly because society still paints them as responsible for their own downfall. How often do you see people reply to these posts and call the girl an attention whore or say she was asking for it? It’s not surprising they don’t go to the police. There’s also the issue of how opening up about a band being abusive can turn a whole fanbase against you. Social media makes it so easy nowadays to bully, insult and shame victims.

It’s also complicated because of the band/fan dynamic. If you read a lot of these stories, the women in them trust the band members. We are talking about teenage girls here, and I don’t want to generalise teenagers at all, but do you remember idolising a band when you were a kid? I know that if any of the bands I loved when I was 14/15 had been texting me I would have been super excited and knowing me, done most things they would have asked. You’re young, a little naive and you don’t expect people to use you for things. So to shout at them for going along with sending nudes, or having sex with men in bands isn’t right.

A lot of these girls admit they were doing things consensually and now looking back on the situations see what was wrong. They choose to talk about what happened to them to help other girls who might be in that situation today. They open up, face the harassment and condemnation of fans, to try and make the scene safer.