Guyana is a small pond with big fishes. The evidence of this is seen in the fact that it really does not take much for one to quickly become an “influencer” or a personality that is well known and celebrated. Given our small population, it is not surprising that the cult of personality is so strong, but it is always disappointing when thinking about the dangerous implications of it, and how it often pivots small men into large roles. A benefit of the small space however, is that secrets are generally not kept for too long. As the popular Guyanese proverb goes, Moon a run til day ketch am.
An example of this was recently seen in the case involving a “social media personality”. First- and second-hand accounts of sexual assault, such as forced oral sex and the transmission of STIs of several persons spread rapidly in the past week. This was disturbing on several levels, but one point that stuck out and which I kept coming back to, was the fact that the man was an advocate for sexual health and reproductive rights. This reality has reiterated my mistrust of loud men in advocacy spaces. This mistrust stems from several things, first being that men in these spaces are rarely reflective and accountable enough to release patriarchal values that prioritize them. The fact is that advocacy provides a space for power and relevance within Guyana, and many men utilize this space and promote themselves as being advocates for change wherein their behaviours do not match what they preach. This of course is immensely dangerous as it not only harms, and contributes towards disempowerment of women in these spaces, but can also be a source of trauma for those who now have to see them be praised for their advocacy, even while remaining harmful.
Amongst the first foundations an advocate learns, is the importance of and nuances of consent. We move from not only seeing consent as a yes or no response to a question or act, but as a continuous process that recognizes the bodily autonomy of others. That means several things such as, not assuming that consent one time means consent is always assured, not assuming that consent to one act means consent to another, not utilizing coercion or mind altering substances to influence someone’s decision, and certainly not forcing acts on someone. All of this is assault and it must be named as such.
As always when there are sharing of experiences of abuse in the public space, there is a call for persons to stop posting things publicly, and go through the “proper” channels, meaning the justice system. The reality of these channels however is that they can often re-traumatize survivors of violence and justice is often an illusory concept, particularly when it comes to sexual abuse. It is important to shift the conversation from the mediums through which survivors share their experiences, towards a focus on social and systemic barriers that often contribute towards them not reporting. This becomes even more difficult when their abusers are those who are well known and who have some amount of power in the society. The results that often comes out of these situations are not encouraging to survivors, because they do see how short our memories really are. The media cycle in Guyana is a whirlwind, and survivor experiences often get caught up in this whirlwind, but it isn’t even from a place of concern, but rather one of voyeurism that still prioritizes the protection of the abusers, and blame on those who survive them.
Having a society that focuses less on personality and more on the values that are held will propel us not only when it comes to accountability for issues such as gender based violence, but also accountability of the politicians we uphold and the dangerous narratives that are often promoted by those with access to power.
