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Inside an Alleged Abusive Emo ‘Sex Cult’

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Jun 19, 2018.

  1. Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Amy Zimmerman, writing for The Daily Beast:


    Earlier this month, accusations started circulating about William Francis, the former lead singer of emo band Aiden who goes by the stage name William Control. […] [A]ccording to accusations made by multiple women, Francis only purported to practice BDSM; in fact, they claim, he physically and emotionally abused women, ordered many of them to get matching tattoos of his initials, and even demanded contracts from his sexual partners or “slaves,” signed in their own blood.

    This is extremely difficult to read.

     
  2. SEANoftheDEAD

    Trusted

    Man, that was hard to read.

    I feel terrible for the women who went through these experiences.
     
  3. Mr. Serotonin

    I'm still staring down the sun Prestigious

    Oh god damn this is awful :cringe:
     
  4. earthlight

    Trusted Supporter

    What the fuck.
     
    Mr. Serotonin likes this.
  5. artbynickferran

    nickferran.com

    This is horrifying. Reading what these women had to go through made me sick. That man deserves a lifetime behind bars.
     
    Mr. Serotonin likes this.
  6. personalmaps

    citrus & cinnamon Prestigious

    Just wanna get this out of the way before any of the usual suspects show up- this is real, it happened to a close friend of mine, I will virtually swing on sight at the first shitty comment.
     
  7. josh-

    Twitter: @joshcaraballin

    He’s always had a villainy look to him. This is the absolute worst. I feel awful for the victims, and it sounds like there are many. Just truly awful shit.
     
    SEANoftheDEAD likes this.
  8. AshlandATeam Jun 19, 2018
    (Last edited: Jun 19, 2018)
    AshlandATeam

    Trusted

    I feel like this story highlights the ways that various people fail abuse victims constantly.

    One of the incidents happened in a hotel; she leaves the hotel naked, limping from a severe injury and beaten to the point of needing urgent medical care. No one saw her? No one at the front desk? No one in the hall?

    One of the incidents happens at a show and -again - is violent, and results in crying. No one on the crew notices this is happening? Everyone just leaves dude alone with girl all the time to do whatever?

    My best friend is a tattoo artist - there's NO WAY, on his worst financial week, that he would 'brand' anyone with a tattoo of a non spouse's initial above the crotch. It's just not happening. And hell, he wouldn't do it for someone's spouse if he didn't know the couple. But for dozens and dozens of women, they found artists to do it.

    Etc. Etc. Etc.

    As a society, we so devalue women in so many ways. In what we do and don't do; in what we do and don't notice. This guy is brazenly monstrous, but no one could do all that without being enabled by an army of people who either actively or passively let him get away with it. And that's just so, so terribly depressing.
     
  9. personalmaps

    citrus & cinnamon Prestigious

    These are all great points and something I’ve thought about so much.

    To this end, for everyone, if you see something, fucking say something. Especially if you’re an able bodied man. None of this is going to change if we don’t try to look out for each other.
     
    cybele and solxace like this.
  10. Sean Murphy

    Prestigious Supporter

    it is absolutely no excuse but I think the "maybe I should just mind my own business" culture probably stops a lot of people from involving themselves in situations like you mentioned above (specifically the hotel and the show). we give men too much credit, assuming a crying girl is with a man does not mean she is safe and out of harms way. if anything anywhere seems out of place, in situations like this it probably is, and you need to involve the shit out of yourself, even if it just means making someone in a position of authority aware of something you don't believe feels or looks right.
     
  11. Transient_Hymn

    Somebody Turn the Neon Down Supporter

    That article might be the worst thing I've ever read.
    Holy hell
     
    Mr. Serotonin likes this.
  12. Dave

    Beneath the Sky

    I couldn't finish the article.. jail is too good for someone like him..
     
  13. Malatesta

    i may get better but we won't ever get well Prestigious

    brutal but im so glad it's getting more traction. so many shitstains hide in these low/mid-tier popularity bands simple because getting more public awareness on them is difficult, but like kayla said, this sounds very well-supported/known (not to this degree but qualitatively) within the industry.
     
  14. somethingwitty

    Trusted

    This guy is a piece of garbage...I saw Thirty Seconds to Mars when they were touring to support their 2nd album and Aiden was one of the openers.

    My friend (at the time she was 19) were waiting outside the back of the venue by the busses to meet Jared after the show. While Jared was taking pics and talking to people, William came up and was being VERY handsy with some of the girls, encouraging them to take off their tops so he could sign their breasts, he tried this with my friend and she nervously laughed and turned away.

    Jared's brother Shannon and one of the venue security guys saw this going on and they immediately told him to get out of there, William then yelled out something to the effect of if any girls wanted to have "real fun" they could come back to his hotel and he gave the name....what a loser.
     
  15. Iamhollywood315

    Regular

    I always thought this guy was some sadistic freak. Lock this piece of hunan trash away. Also I can’t believe all the defensive people on his FB Page. People really need to wake up.
     
  16. what in the actual fuck man. horrifying read.
     
  17. cwhit

    still emperor emo Prestigious

    what the hell, pitchfork posted about this
     
  18. personalmaps

    citrus & cinnamon Prestigious

    So did Daily Mail. 24 hour news cycle, nowhere to hide. :)
     
  19. PureBlueSF

    Regular Supporter

    Jesus fucking christ. This reminds me of the whole NXIVM sex cult shit. Fucking sickening.