Let's be honest: Sexual abuse is probably way more common in the punk scene than many of us realize, just due to the nature, and makeup of the whole thing. (wall of text)

It is pretty much "normalized" for adults in the scene to interact with teenagers on a pretty frequent basis. A lot of kids in the scene are extremely impressionable (whether they like to admit it or not, as a lot of posts on here will prove, where they are pretty much asking for "permission" to like or do things based on whether the concensus is that it's "punk" or not.)

The scene can be a prime hunting ground for predators, and they can easily just dismiss their actions as "normal" and be believed, because a lot of people actually do have innocent relationships with people of all ages within the scene. Sorry for the following wall of text, but I am going to describe a situation I am VERY familiar with, and am going to provide a little backgound, and an example of how this sort of thing can be hiding in plain sight. I am not paticularly familar with Anti- Flag, and cannot even say I am even remotely familiar with their music, but all of the "The rest of the band HAD to know" speculation is what inspired me to write this post. Maybe the rest of the band thought the guy was just really interactive with the fans, a lot of whom happened to be teens, and because they weren't predators themselves, it didn't even cross their minds that someone whom they thought they knew well would be either.

In the early '90s there was a person who was a MAJOR groomer/ ephebophile operating in the L.A. area. He was probably in his mid 30's or so at the time, but nobody really knows for sure because he definitely lied about his age. This guy would make friends with punk teens, drive them around, supply them with booze/drugs, buy them gifts... etc... Which to kids who aren't old enough to drive, and don't really have much money of their own, seems pretty darn cool. (and this guy seemingly had a large supply of cash from who-knows-where, he didn't seem to have a job.) Once the teens were pretty inebriated, this guy would always get pretty handsy. If anyone protested to the groping/ surprise hand down their pants, this man in his 30s would accuse them of "homophobia."

He was also very comfortable around parents, which even made the whole thing a little more strange, he would sleep over at the houses of 15 year olds while their parents were there, as his "prey" were in the San Fernando Valley, and he was living in Isla Vista, near UCSB. Whether he was actually attending colege there is up for question. Due to one of the boy's parents becoming suspicious (and to be honest, this boy was the most succeptible to being groomed due to underlying mental conditions) the situation got too hot for the groomer/ephebophile, as the police were becoming involved and looking into him (I know this because the boy's parents contacted everyone else who they knew had any contact with the predators' parents) So the groomer relocated to Northern Calfornia/ the East Bay.

So Now that the backstory is done, here's where the story becomes more relevant... Now that the groomer is in the Bay Area, he quickly gets involved in the local scene, and befriends a lot of the "major" local figures. Now this guy isn't restrained to just small groups of friends, he's got a whole scene to prey on! Needless to say, it wasn't long before rumors of this person being up to their "old tricks" started to get around, but again, it's pretty "normal" in the scene for adults to interact / drink with teens because "society's rules are dumb" right? and nobody was aware of the L.A. happenings, so many just dismissed these accusations as rumors, and the creep would just bust out his tried and true "it's just homophobia" excuse.

Jeff Ott of the band Fifteen (again, not really familiar with his music, just familiar with the situation.) became aware of the predator's behavior, and while trying to spread awareness of the creep's behavior, became the victim of a smear campaign, led by many "prominent" figures in the scene, who swore up and down that the creep was innocent, even though a lot of evidence was right there, out in the open, for anyone who was even remotely familiar with the creep's activity to see, should they have chosen to see it... but again, sometimes if your mind doesn't work that way, and someone's good enough at hiding/ covering it up, you can easily just reason it away., with the old "I am around teenagers and drinking all the time, and it's completely innocent, so this probably was too" rationalle. From what I've seen, Jeff Ott admitted to have been sexually forceful/ inapproprate in his younger years, and was trying to make amends/ admitted past wrongdoings to move forward, and this was weaponized agaist him, and somehow used to discredit his allegations agaist the groomer.

Jeff Ott had a newsletter where he details the whole thing, and despite having a few details wrong about the L.A. side, it is pretty accurate. I do know that the groomer did actually go to prison for a (too short) while for one victim, but is definitely guilty of many, many, many more. I feel like I've typed WAY too much here, but I am open to most questions, clarification, or discussion anyone may have. I you made it all the way through, thank you for your time.

*EDIT* Nowhere did I say that abuse is more common in punk than anywhere else... My point was that it is likely more common in the scene than many realize.