War On Women, Feminist Punk Band, Accused by Former Guitarist of Privately Being as Literal Exact Opposite of Feminist as Humanly Possible

[Symmachus]

This is a story I never thought I would read, but here we go.

War On Women Wage Actual War on a Woman's Mind

Nancy Hornburg, guitarist of War On Women from 2011 to 2016, has publicly accused her former bandmates of psychological abuse, controlling and diminishing behavior, creating an illegitimate male-led hierarchy, and even criminal acts including robbery.

I am under the impression that it would go against DD guidelines to quote Hornburg's whole testimony, so I will serve some prime cuts instead.

My name is Nancy Sophia Hornburg and I am the former guitarist for the Feminist Hardcore Punk band War on Women. I am writing this statement to share some of my experiences while being in the band and my experiences after leaving the band War on Women. These experiences have greatly impacted my life, to the point that I now speak of my experiences with War on Women in therapy.

When I first joined the band, Brooks and Shawna presented their ideas to me and I liked them. They spoke of equality and women's rights. I too share these same ideas and was happy to finally find others that felt the same as I did. The singer Shawna Potter and the guitarist Brooks Harlan run a guitar and amp shop called Big Crunch. I thought that was really interesting and it was just another thing that convinced me to join them in their punk quest for feminist ideals. After joining the band, I slowly learned that I had no voice or creative input in War on Women. I also learned that I had no say in recording or mixing and I was never allowed to see actual money totals or documentation of money. Brooks Harlan and Shawna Potter created a hierarchy in the band. They were to be the leaders and everyone else in the band was not going to get a chance to share their ideas. Brooks would write all the music and Shawna would write the lyrics. This was not up for discussion and was quietly implemented by these two people.

Brooks's rise over me came slowly, at first I really thought that he and Shawna had everyone's best interests in mind. Over the years I slowly realized that Brooks and Shawna considered themselves to "be the band" and that anyone else was just a "hired gun" with no creative say in the project War on Women. Brooks would slowly begin to criticize me continually. He did this in private, often pulling me aside from everyone else. When I would voice my ideas or concerns, I was met with minimization of them by Brooks or eye rolls from him. Brooks told Sue and I that "Evan Tanner and him were a good song writing team.". This was to reassure that no ideas from the other women in the band could be valid ideas. The men knew best, according to Brooks Harlan. I felt like everything I said was questioned and disregarded as not important. This made me feel defeated and bullied.

After a few years of me being in the band War on Women, Brooks Harlan started to place a recording device on top of my amp. He only did this to me. When he first started doing this, he told me that he was "just checking some things out". He continued to place a handheld recording device on top of my amp, reassuring me that it was ok for him to do this to me. He would then keep the recording to himself, would listen to my playing in the van and use that recording to critique me. Brooks could record and critique my playing, but I could not critique him. This act of him recording me constantly made me very, very anxious. I was constantly seeking Brooks's approval. He made me feel like I had to play to his standards all the time. There were no set standards for him and he constantly made me feel like I had no control over anything, including my own thoughts or artistry... Brooks let me know what power he had over all of us women... He continued to be kind and then cold to me. Helpful and also extremely critical, to the point of causing me severe insecurity with my musicianship.

In 2016 War on Women was abruptly kicked out of our practice space on Sission St in Baltimore. The locks were changed on us and at the time, Evan Tanner was the caretaker for the entire practice space. Brooks and Evan were able to retrieve our music equipment, but we had to immediately find another practice space. I was told by Brooks to not "bother" Evan about getting kicked out of the practice space. Brooks told me that I should be quiet and that Evan and him were "handling it". Nothing more was said about the incident and we continued to practice in a new space across town. I found out in 2020 that Evan Tanner was robbing the practice space we used at the time on Sission St. He was taking cash from the owner's safe. The cash was practice space rent from other bands and was supposed to be collected by Evan. Evan was taking that rent money and pocketing some of it for himself. Instead of calling the cops, the owner asked Evan to leave immediately and only let him back in the building to retrieve the band's gear. It is my opinion that Brooks Harlan knew Evan stole cash. It is my opinion that Brooks Harlan helped cover up a robbery for Evan Glenn Tanner.

In December of 2020, I wrote a single letter to Brooks Harlan. I was prompted to do this after hearing from many people that they were not compensated correctly by Shawna Potter for T-shirt printing or artwork. In the letter I asked to know why Brooks pushed for Evan and why he catered to him. I asked to see the money, because I was never allowed to see where the money went while in the band War on Women. I asked why Brooks thought it was ok to abuse women mentally and emotionally for his own good. I also asked him to state publicly that he was sorry for controlling women and catering to Evan Glenn Tanner. I told Brooks I would come out publicly with my abuse from the band and Evan's crimes.
Brooks did not respond to my asking for an apology. He did respond with a newly made up royalty statement and Shawna Venmo'd me 200 or so dollars. In the statement it stated that we received a 25K advance from the label Bridge Nine. I was never told about this amount, why we asked for that much or how it was actually spent. Shawna hid that from me. This made me angry and I felt like I had been duped by these people. The band War on Women still owes money to the label Bridge Nine. I had no knowledge of any of these things.

My experience with Brooks Harlan, Shawna Potter and Evan Tanner left me with emotional and mental distress. My self esteem was destroyed by Brooks Harlan. These experiences made me feel like I could not trust people in music. Being in the band War on Women made me feel like I had no voice. These individuals took advantage of my kindness and the kindness of others. I was in an abusive setting and it affected my ability to defend myself and caused performance issues. I was never in a "safe space" when I traveled or worked with these individuals. Shawna Potter writes about and teaches "safer spaces', but I feel she does not actually care to practice these things. I was traveling with dishonest individuals and this makes me very sick to my stomach to know all this now.

The public needs to be warned to stay away from Evan Glenn Tanner.

Evan Glenn Tanner deserves to have his assets seized and to be forced to pay back all money that he has taken. I have the amounts totaling over 120K and that is not including housing, cars, laptops, phones and other items he was given for his fraudulent business Tanner's Pickles. This is also only what I currently know about Evan Glenn Tanner. I feel there are more people out there that Evan has hurt and I wish them to come forward with their stories. Evan should be held accountable for everything he took and did. It is my opinion that he is a true scam artist and he will continue this scam of reselling a defunct business.

War on Women is a feminist marketing ploy, designed to only benefit Brooks Harlan and Shawna Potter. I would like the public to be aware of this. I gave the band a full year to say something about all the actions I have stated. They helped no one and did nothing about their former drummer. I do not want young people to listen to this band and think that this is what feminism is supposed to be like. No one should work with these individuals or listen to their fake feminist songs. War on Women is the Patriarchy, wrapped in a glossy coating of feminist lyrics.

Ex-WAR ON WOMEN Guitarist Nancy Hornburg Speaks out Against Band

UPDATE: War On Women respondNancy Hornburg, former guitarist of feminist hardcore punk band War on Women, is now publicly lashing out at her former bandmates. Prominent among her many allegations are that band found...

lambgoat.com

Man, I must say that that is scary to think about. If you're in a feminist punk band, and it is run as an tyrannical and abusive dictatorship by a man with enforcement from his girlfriend, then that arrangement is not feminist at all. The fact that a feminist punk band, of all possible bands, is accused of committing this type of behavior as second nature over such a long course of time is very startling and disturbing. If these allegations are true, I wonder how Potter, Harlan, Tanner, and Werner can live with embodying this type of violent hypocrisy. That is not feminism; that is a cult of enslavement.

It reminds me of the scandals a few years ago involving the band PWR BTTM. First off, their band name is totally tactless and inappropriate. Secondly, one of the two members, Ben Hopkins, was accused of being a known sexual predator and bully. This band had made a mission to give safe spaces via their concerts for queer youth and queer young adults, only for Ben to allegedly violate the standards exhibited on stage and via PWR BTTM's persona. The band was dropped from their label, their freshly released 2nd album became immediately forgotten, the band's touring was cancelled, and they eventually split up.

If this War On Women scandal, and Joss Whedon's situations, are any indication, it is not merely good enough to make feminist art, music, literature, media, etc. Anything that someone preaches, they must practice. And if a "feminist" creator shows gross disdain for the women he or she works with, then the "feminist" contributions to the world will have much less meaning and depth than intended.

Someone is an extremely sick person when they decide to abuse and hurt others in a way that hides behind feminism. Men and women who use feminist ideas, philosophies, literature, art, and talking points as a shield for their abusive or bullying behavior toward others are genuine threats to society; such goes against the very idea of feminism and actualizing women in society, and the people who exploit feminism, gender dynamics, identity politics, and other human beings for purely self-serving purposes need to be punished for their actions. Sadly, I have personally known people who have done these things too.

I had been meaning to listen to the band for a while, but only got around to doing it for the first time yesterday, when I heard about this scandal. The song I listened to was inchoate and hopelessly dim, and ultimately not that good.

And I will end this post with some feminist music recommendations of my own.

 

[Blunderbuss Firozabad]

1. Nicely said by you @Symmachus .

.... it is not merely good enough to make feminist art, music, literature, media, etc. Anything that someone preaches, they must practice

2. Feminist punk bands make money?!?!

. "He did respond with a newly made up royalty statement and Shawna Venmo'd me 200 or so dollars. In the statement it stated that we received a 25K advance from the label Bridge Nine."

 

[Metalfan]

I wanna be SEDATED with GORILLA BISCUITS,and then DISCHARGE with the EXPLOITED BAD RELIGION!!! Back when Punk truly didnt give a fuck!! Not this Garbage nowadays!

 

[Satanica]

I would've quit the first week. They're also narcissistic yet no talent assholes. Their egos wouldn't have been able to deal with collaboration with talented musicians.

 

[ronda2711]

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garbage



queer













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[Craygor]

Sisson Street is a pretty fucking small street, I live just 2000' from it and am on that street every single day. I never listened to the punk band "War on Women", though that's not too surprising since punk isn't really my taste in music, but being a Baltimore "feminist" band I would have thought I would have heard of it, but have not.

Its not surprising the a band named "War on Women" is a basically a marketing ploy. To me, its a lot like when Hot Topic was selling Che Guevara t-shirts.