The Cult of Personality: enabling abuse in the animal rights community?
CW: the following article makes reference to partnered and gendered violence including physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Please read with care.
Another day, another post, and yet another woman coming forwards with allegations of violence inflicted against her by a member of the animal rights community. She has made her claims against an individual who, whilst not as well known as the average vegan influencer, was still largely respected for his investigative work. And I believe her.
Here is my reasoning why.
Who is familiar with the concept of the Cult of Personality (CoP)? CoP is a powerful political tactic that uses media, propaganda and spectacle to cultivate the idealised image of a leader, utilising unquestioning public support and flattery in support of the individual positioning themselves in authority. Whilst typically utilised by governments seeking to entrench a dictatorial rule, we can see these same tactics applied by some (hashtag “not all”) within social justice movements including the animal rights movement. Through the cultivation of a charismatic online and offline persona in order to manipulate public perception, and the repetition of the same arguments and the undertaking of the same spectacles of activism ad nauseum (thus creating a fan base built upon confirmation bias and the perception of “doing the most”), individuals are able to position themselves as leaders within a movement surrounded by people who actively discourage engagement in critical analysis or open dialogue; the more flattery and praise the leader receives the more entrenched their position becomes. From that point on, they are all but guaranteed to maintain their position of influence and authority irrespective of what they do. And social media is a critical tool in the manufacturing of identity and the establishment of the CoP within the AR community.
Now before anyone starts, no, not all activists, not all influencers, not all men, etc. No, it’s not isolated to one region or another. And no, this is not an issue that is isolated to the AR community specifically. It is observable throughout other social justice movements, and throughout the broader community as is the abuse that can eventuate from the cultivation of such an identity. But as I primarily work within the AR space, I must base my observations upon what I have seen.
And it’s not pretty.
The aforementioned case is the fourth I have witnessed unfold since December last year alone; there have been many more prior. In each, the essentials are the same; a man in an influential position within the animal rights community based on his work “for the animals” inflicts violence against a woman with less social capital (because they haven’t crafted a public persona to the same extent as their abuser, not because they aren’t engaged in “doing the work”). There have been allegations of predatory sexual behaviour, sexual impropriety, mental and physical abuse, and rape. Of those four cases, three have resulted in no repercussions for the abusers whatsoever, beyond a slightly damaged pride; those individuals are still active within the animal rights community, still welcomed by many in the animal rights community, still lauded for their activism. One has relocated overseas and is engaging in “outreach training” in Bali and has resumed his online presence as though nothing ever happened. As for the latest, the outcome remains to be seen; I think we can guess, although this individual had previously positioned themselves with a less publicly adulated identity, so may yet be removed from the community.
I will not be holding my breath.
But what does manifest when women come forwards with allegations of this nature against high-profile activists who have effectively established the CoP online and in person is that the backlash against those women is violent. Just as in a courtroom, social media becomes dominated by a back and forth questioning her sexuality, her integrity, her intentions or “agenda”, even her work as an activist. Everything about her becomes open for dissection in the most public ways imaginable, with conversations spanning the globe via the Internet. It becomes a veritable onslaught of victim-blaming, slut-shaming, rape and violence apologist vitriol that cannot be contained. When you come up against the CoP, you put everything on the line with little hope of receiving reparation, or even community support from the very people you once stood alongside in pursuit of justice for other animals. By the very act of speaking out against your abuser you stand to lose everything; and there are those in the community who will use you as an apparatus to create further vitriolic content from which they can financially prosper, such as YouTube videos “debunking” your allegations and maligning you in the vilest language possible.
And this is why I believe her. Because if you stand to lose everything when you expose your abuser, then why would you lie? When even in those cases where your allegations are confirmed, your abuser is unlikely to suffer any loss of position or suffer any substantial damage to their public persona through their careful cultivation of the CoP, why put everything on the line for something that is not true?
Oh yes, I believe these women.
And I fundamentally believe that we must work to deconstruct the CoP as it is manifesting in the AR community. Because it is enabling so many destructive behaviours, not only abuse and violence against other people, but the maldistribution of funds, the promotion of populist ideologies that are antithetical to the core ideals of animal liberation, and a reliance upon a handful of individual engaging in the same activities repeatedly with no qualitative evidence that they are achieving anything tangible. But most of all, we must dismantle the CoP to make spaces safe for all to operate within.
If we are to achieve the goal of animal liberation, we need more voices and less leaders. Which is why the Cult of Personality has to go.
