Rolling Stone: Part-1, Chad Taylor blog on Medium.com Options

[dangum]

Chad Taylor
Feb 27, 2023

Sexuality Weaponized: Women Under Attack

One of the more scandalous topics in the Rolling Stone article, How an Alleged Con Man Tore Apart One of the Nineties’ Biggest Bands, is how convicted felon Bill Hynes weaponized sexuality, financial documents, and tales of violence to extort or hush anyone who might speak out against him.

The victims of these abuses include three women who bravely united to call out Hynes in Rolling Stone’s lengthy exposé written by journalist Andy Greene.

In each case, these women did not grant consent for Hynes to further victimize, defame, or harm them. Nevertheless, he has continued his social media attacks and lies while serving probation in York County.

Anastasia Powell and Nicola Henry, co-authors of Sexual Violence in a Digital Age, “address how sexually aggressive and harassing behaviors perpetrated with the use of digital communication technologies” impact victims.

Technology-facilitated sexual violence, as it relates to gender power relations, follows “a continuum of experiences that range from casual everyday acts of sexism to sexual assault and the murder of women.”



Mrs. Gracey and Mrs. Dahlheimer went on record — in an internationally published magazine, no less — to deny Hynes’ fabricated and incendiary claims.

Additionally, the victim of Hynes’ numerous physical assaults and stalking had an opportunity to outline the abuses she suffered. All three female victims were subject to technology-facilitated harassment through misogynistic diatribes by both Bill Hynes and Chad Gracey.

As readers, we were asked to judge who is more believable, the so-called “victims” or felon Hynes — who has repeatedly been convicted of stealing, lying, and beating women?

In a recent social media post, chat room administrator Bob Zazzera attempted to impugn the credibility of the three victims and Rolling Stone by writing that journalist Andy Greene was “summoned to come and write that article for a fee,” he continued his erroneous statement by concluding, “for those that don’t know about new world media. They take money for narrative writing.”


Mr. Zazzera continues to protect and defend felon Bill Hynes through statements undermining the female victims featured in the Rolling Stone article.

Mr. Zazzera, 53, who appears to have no expertise in “new media,” is a resident of Nazareth, Pennsylvania — Hynes’ hometown. Through Mr. Zazzera’s public statements, he implies the female victims are liars and that Rolling Stone and author Andy Greene have no journalistic integrity. Other than being listed as a moderator on social media, Mr. Zazzera seems to have an outsized voice to influence and govern discussions, including those questioning why Hynes has any ability to post on the platform.

But the relationship between felon Hynes and Mr. Zazzera is not limited to his governance of the fan board. According to court records, “Zazzera is represented…by Hynes’ personal attorneys from Philadelphia, Bochetto and Lentz. Obviously, that is no coincidence. It is no accident that [Zazzera] chose the same small law firm in Philadelphia to represent [him] that Hynes chose as his personal legal counsel.”

Perhaps this gives insight into how Hynes, through Zazzera, manipulates the fan board and precisely why he has been allowed to continue his abusive posts.

Again, this is a form of technology-facilitated harassment delivered through misinformation, manipulation, and control. Finally, the reputations of three independent women are under attack because the moderator elected to support and collude with a convicted felon, who admits he “pled no contest to five charges.”

No matter how it is disguised, Mr. Zazzera is disseminating misinformation and limiting truth via social platforms, and this is a form of hostile bullying and aggression from a male against multiple female victims.

This type of baseless defamation is addressed in Sexual Violence in a Digital Age. But, unfortunately, it is statements and actions like Zazzera’s that further hurt and harm the three victims without their consent or a single ounce of evidence.

First there is the actual horrific violence committed against the victim. And then a second impact from the aftershocks of social media gossip, misinformation, and finally unwarranted judgment. There is no thought or consideration for the impact of Mr. Zazzera’s harmful assertions and lies (let alone Hynes and Gracey) on these women.

Mr. Zazzera has no authority to override statements by victims who declared that “Hynes would go into a violent rage at the tiniest provocations” and forced her to have “non-consensual sex.”

Another victim said, “Bill Hynes is flat-out lying. This man is a predator and a master manipulator.”

Which part of these victim statements is Mr. Zazzera refuting?

Mr. Zazzera blatantly attempts to undermine the victims’ voices and credibility by saying that Andy Greene and Rolling Stone “take money” to author articles that feature anything other than their corroborated truth. This is exactly why Powell and Henry call these social assaults “rape culture.” There is a gang-like mentality where these groups gather and attack persons through assertions about their sexuality.

Rolling Stone, for example, would never expose itself legally by accepting payment for a story. This is perhaps the most absurd theory Mr. Zazzera has promoted.

And by making himself part of the story, through the telling of falsehoods, Mr. Zazzera likely exposed himself to defamation claims by the victims.

For anyone wondering, Rolling Stone reached out separately to Mrs. Gracey, Mrs. Dahlheimer, and Hynes’ victim for their stories, independent of journalist Andy Greene’s request for my interview.

The author obviously gave Gracey and Hynes a chance to tell their side of the story too.

However, the Rolling Stone article states, “Hynes’ claims are very difficult to square with the historical record” highlighting a doppelgänger defense, where Hynes claims his misdeeds were perpetrated by “another William T. Hynes.”

In addition to the in-depth interviews, there was extensive due diligence and fact-checking of evidence conducted by the magazine and its lawyers.

Andy Greene was forthright to all parties. No matter the story, he was obligated to report the truth.

The harassment continues…

Psychological studies show that when men attack women through demonstrative and misogynistic comments about their sexuality — real or perceived — the hostility falls into the same power dynamic as rape.

And one would think, post Rolling Stone article, Hynes and Gracey would back away from their use of technology-facilitated harassment. Instead, their disparaging rhetoric continues.

For example, Bill Hynes doubled down on his assertions, writing, “Chad T slept with a band members wife and punched another’s in the face in the lobby bar at the Baltimore Marriott Hotel. I’m sorry we don’t have pictures or videos of him having sex. He didn’t invite anyone into his room to record the porn.”


Hynes repeatedly targets women through digital communications, seemingly unaware this stalking behavior is exactly what triggered the victim’s Protection From Abuse Order, landing him in York County Prison after being arrested by the Pennsylvania State Police (Nov 1, 2019)

I am sure Hynes thinks he is hurting me through his blabbering. But Hynes misses the very point that these degrading posts highlight his past violence and sexual aggression towards women — directly impacting the unsuspecting victims.

As referenced in Sexual Violence in a Digital Age, “women experience disproportionate criminological abuse and violence.” And their fundamental rights are quickly stripped away when moderators of digital communications fail to protect innocent victims.

Again, in an international publication, all three women defended themselves, stating plainly that felon Hynes was a liar, manipulator, and alarmingly violent.

When Gracey, without consent, attacked his ex-wife’s credibility by discussing her sexuality, or when Hynes trolled the female victim through cyber stalking and bullying, these hostile acts correlate with the tenants of abuse addressed by Powell and Henry. Without any opportunity to defend the unwarranted attacks, women are being degraded in public forums by hostile men, who can simply elect to publish anything, true or untrue, about sexual acts, real or perceived.

According to the law firm McCalister Olivaius, “There is currently no federal revenge pornography law, although in 2019, then-Senator Kamala Harris introduced the SHIELD (Stopping Harmful Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution) Act, which would make sharing intimate images without the subject’s consent a federal offense, and President Biden has announced his commitment to introduce a federal bill to tackle online abuse.”

While SHIELD would address photographs and moving images, this leaves statements about sexual violence and harassment wide open. And while victims can bring civil defamation cases, their assailants are often difficult to pursue due to the complexities of the forum and local laws.

According to Rosie, a national harm prevention initiative by the Dugdale Trust for Women & Girls, sexual shaming “is closely connected to issues of victim blaming and rape culture.”

There is no consent when victims are subject to technology-facilitated harassment and violence. Victims are often harshly criticized and judged for perceptions of their sexual promiscuity — rarely based on fact. Misogynistic comments have become more prevalent since the adaptation of social media, where Hynes and Gracey have frequently slashed and degraded women without concern for their well-being or the well-being of their families. If anything, they seem to encourage and support each other’s depravity.

Creepily, the act of technology-facilitated harassment is predatory behavior closely resembling what Bill Hynes did to his former employee, where he pled no contest to digitally stalking the victim to smear her reputation through fake social media accounts (Bill Hynes a.k.a., Jon Hoch).

And these statements tend to catch fire and go viral, drawing in more men who quickly join the gang-up of abuse. For example, Josh Lichtenfeld, 36, a Moderator on Fans of Live from Indianapolis, echoed the early sexual allegations of Hynes and Gracey when writing, “So, Chad Taylor torpedoed Live.” Hundreds of comments followed, damaging the reputation of an unsuspecting woman. In this case, the mother of Gracey’s three children.


Seemingly harmless, Moderators like Lichtenfeld, can aid in the technology-facilitated harassment and sexual violence against women by giving voice to unsubstantiated rumors and rhetoric.

Mr. Lichtenfeld, as an authority on the chat board, made no attempt to gather evidence, speak with Mr. Taylor, or address Mrs. Gracey. Instead, he stated a “fact” taking the word of Hynes or Gracey over anything but substantiated evidence. And in doing so, other followers are more than likely to believe his statement. After all, he is distinguished as the moderator. An evidence hold has been placed on Mr. Lichtenfeld by legal counsel representing the victims while an investigation is completed. And this type of deplorable behavior is not limited to celebrity musician fan boards.

Weaponized sexuality is a problem with a scale much broader than most perceive, ranging from school students to adults with careers, all of whom can quickly be impacted and emotionally damaged from hostile acts committed with a few keystrokes.

As reported last week by Donna St. George of the Washington Post, a recent study by federal researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows, “teen girls across the United States are ‘engulfed in a growing wave of violence and trauma.’” With a shocking increase “in rape and sexual violence.”

St. George reports in her article, The crisis in American girlhood, that “Richard Weissbourd, a psychologist and senior lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, said ‘girls may be more vulnerable to social media and a culture obsessed with attractiveness and body image.’”


CDC reports increases in rape and sexual violence among teen girls and draws a direct correlation to social bullying..

In the tiny vacuum of Live fan boards, we have witnessed countless postings by grown adult men shaming and violating women without their consent (and with little recourse). But the bigger question is, what impact is this hostile digital behavior having on our daughters? Imagine if these women were teens in high school. But unfortunately, this is what our children are experiencing, and the adults seem to be shamefully just as bad.

Unfortunately, I have seen and heard reports from multiple women who did stand up and speak out against Hynes, only to receive public lashings or, worse, private messages with threatening tones.

When starting a band as a teenage boy, the last thing I could imagine was our social media platforms being used for low-level mudslinging. I would rather not be part of any band or have fans if it meant defining the music through adults — specifically the moderators and aggressors — acting so poorly towards these women. The fact that sexual violence and harassment serve as “entertainment” and is tolerated by so many is disturbing. We must protect and defend women who have been marginalized by violence. Report the offenders or ban them from posting. But I recognize this is difficult when social media administrators are a direct part of the problem.

While victims of digital sexual violence are often not physically assaulted, Lydia Antonatos, a licensed mental health counselor, writes that the impact “can have damaging effects on a person’s overall well-being and has been linked to depression, anxiety, suicide, and low self-esteem. In addition, this form of harassment can extend beyond words or gestures and escalate into more serious offenses, including sexual violence or abuse and emotional blackmailing.”

Seemingly these grown adult men (note, there are no women), are asleep and utterly clueless to the harm they are doing to women. Or worse, they know, and don’t care.

As a musician, I have always anticipated and dealt with general gossip. It is part of the gig. And for reasons previously stated, Hynes and Gracey, fear our cooperation with law enforcement. Naturally, they attacked Mr. Dahlheimer and me, but when it escalated to including Mrs. Dahlheimer, Mrs. Gracey, and Hynes’ victim, it was time to shut it down with evidence as verified by Rolling Stone.

And moderators like Bob Zazzera and Josh Lichtenfeld, have some responsibility as administrators to govern the behaviors of the group’s members. And it is even worse when the moderators themselves are the ones aggregating and promoting sentiments that hurt, harm, and defame unrepresented women.

With little accountability, these grown men acting as fanboys on a rock band’s chat board have used their digital platforms to allow the victims to be further harassed, defamed, and victimized. Again, without evidence and directly conflicting with the victim’s statements to Rolling Stone.

Zazzera and Lichtenfeld, without question, had a direct part in the hyperbole that escalated and propagated violent accusations and sexual abuse of multiple female victims. All while playing a role in undermining Mr. Taylor and Mr. Dahlheimer and their careers. That would indeed be a costly defamation case to defend, as many lawyers have opined.

The only mechanism to stop technology-facilitated harassment and violence is to report platforms for abuse and hope social moderators do not propagate or allow statements from criminals and their supporters.

Women can play a significant role in policing aggregators of abuse and defending other women, who will likely never engage for fear of further retribution. The victim of Hynes’ attacks affirms this when “citing ongoing fears for her own safety.”

Many of these offenders do not realize that social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram store and save every comment, even when instigators post harmful statements, and quickly delete them. This historical data shows how law enforcement (or civil attorneys) may uncover fake social media accounts, comments, and search history. Fortunately, for victims, there is no “undo” or escape where cultivators of digital violence and harassment can hide. The power of a civil or criminal subpoena and the cooperation of the social media host has provided clarity for numerous victims.

More importantly, I have discovered most men have been slow to recognize the importance of holding space for women and caring enough to change how our perceptions of their sexuality are viewed. The lessons I’m learning about the challenges women face through technology have made a lasting impression on me.

This was not an easy topic to research, and I was alarmed at how frequently digital communications are used to harm women. In sum, being kind and considerate is a good place to start. In 10,000 years, I would have never imagined writing to this degree, and I sincerely appreciate the support (and direction).

For more information about how to report violence or harrasement:

https://medium.com/@chadtaylorofficial/roll...-1-2e783e3463b5

[Orion0767]

“The lady doth protest too much, me thinks” Keep going …. With every paragraph that is written and posted, credibility diminishes.

[Badman]

“The lady doth protest too much, me thinks” Keep going …. With every paragraph that is written and posted, credibility diminishes.

Coming around to the same thought! I read today that narcissists have a strong urge to let everyone know that they are "the good guy." Taylor's white knighting here sounds like a narcissist who is trying to convince us he is morally in the right and his opponents are in the wrong.

Taylor needs to get off social media and into therapy. At a minimum, he's going through a lot right now and fighting his former colleagues online isn't going to help him. The best he can do now is try to extricate himself from the financial mess, care for his family, and work toward what his legacy will be. He's still got life to lead, and if there is one thing enemies hate, it's your success. Hell, he may even still have music to make. Shinn does seem to be right that Taylor may be mentally stuck in the age where he found success, but he needs to grow up and move forward.