The Intersection of Demonizing Alternative Culture and Victim-Blaming Evan Rachel Wood
The art one makes, subcultures and scenes they participate in, and even sexual kinks do not make one an abuser by default or more likely to engage in abusive behavior. In fact, these aspects can and have been used to unfairly castigate or even fetishize people.
There is much discourse about Marilyn Manson’s long history of sexual abuse in the entertainment and media worlds and his own fans.
Countless writers delved into his history better than I could, I’d highly recommend this piece by Shannon Ashley about how he basically admitted he was a serial abuser for decades and no one did anything about it. It was just swept under the red carpet. Let’s face it, CAA suddenly dropping him had more to do with covering their asses than actually doing justice to the numerous women who’ve come forward in addition to Evan Rachel Wood.
And I hate to sound cliché here, but I also just wasn’t much of a fan. I’m not just saying that now; I’m basing that on my actual context from when Marilyn Manson was this larger than life act and centrifugal point for both disaffected Gen Xers and burgeoning Millennial alt culture kids at turn of the millennium.
When I was a babybat first finding my way in the alt world at the time, I was more into classic metal like Metallica and Megadeth, crossover like Biohazard and Suicidal Tendencies, and then I wanted darker flavors like Cradle of Filth, hometown heroes Type O Negative, and Darkane. I was far more into metal and hardcore, then punk and thrash, than electronic music despite Orgy’s Candyass still having a beloved place in my album collection (and who didn’t love The Fragile?) Horrorpunk and crossover became my ultimate homes. I had a copy of Mechanical Animals when I was 14, after being introduced by a middle school classmate who thought “Beautiful People” was one of the most poignant songs ever written.
Other than that, I wasn’t deep into that particular bit of goth and alternative fan culture then. I just thought he was a guy who had some occasional good lyrics but put shock over…
