Statement Condemning Shobasakthi’s Sexual Predatory Practices

“When culture is based on a dominator model, not only will it be violent, but it will frame all relationships as power struggles.”― Bell Hooks,The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love

“We are powerful because we have survived, and that is what it is all about survival and growth.”

 ― Audre Lorde,https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1982-audre-lorde-learning-60s/

 

We, a group of concerned feminists came together and formed an ad hoc feminist collective to prepare a condemnation statement after giving a deep and detailed consideration of testimonies from multiple survivors. This is to bring to your attention writer and actor Shobasakthi's misuse of power and male privilege and predatory practices with several women and queer persons in the field of art and literature. We sincerely believe that it is pertinent to break the silence, call out his abusive behaviour, and make these spaces safe for women and queer community.

Tamil male writers have and still use the power conferred on them by their cis identity, as well as their prominence as “celebrity” writers, thinkers, and creatives, to exploit and carry out systemic sexist violence against women and queer people. It has become the norm to condone this violence, relegating it to the artistic genius, liberated perspective, and non-conformism of these prolific writers. Meanwhile, the women and queer people who, inspired by the self-respect movement, overcame family, caste, and religious obstacles to seek work in politics, art, and literature, are sexually and economically exploited, abandoned, and ultimately left isolated and marginalised by abusive men who hold tremendous power in these fields. Ostracized from their personal and professional circles, these women are forced to sacrifice their dreams and return to the margins.

Shobhasakthi, a renowned and prolific Tamil writer who claims to be guided by Periyarist, Marxist, Ambedkarite, and feminist principles, stands accused of numerous cases of sexual predation and misconduct by multiple women and queer people with whom he was professionally and romantically involved. This statement is prepared with the intense participation of survivors and is an outcome of long conversations with several of the women and queer persons who have publicly and privately disclosed their experiences of abuse at the hands of Shobasakthi and his allies.

The patterns of abuse and exploitation that have surfaced throughout these conversations with the persons preyed on by Shobhasakthi are:

1. Shobhasakthi’s use of his supposed political and artistic views to lure women who share like-minded (pacifist, feminist, Marxist, anti-caste, queer-positive) politics.
2. Shobhasakthi’s use of connections and/or relationships with known feminists, artists, and political activists to create an aura of impeccability to discourage doubt over his abusive and exploitative behaviours.
3. Shobhasakthi’s use of his history as a refugee and a former member of a rebel organization (which he left due to difference in principles) to inspire sympathy and manipulate women. 
4. Shobhasakthi’s use of his ability to cross geo-political borders to inspire trust in his ability to assist status-precarious women and queer people with their own refugee claims/ immigration status, further using his status and experiences to make false offers of long-term resident security.
5. Shobhasakthi’s mobilization of his age and need for health-focused care to encourage codependent intimate relationships. 
6. Shobhasakthi’s use of codependent relationships, established through false promises of commitment and family, to heighten his intimate partners’ vulnerability, furthered by their isolation, and extended periods of neglect interspersed with periods of excessive and obsessive attention. 
7. Shobhasakthi’s use of stalking and similar territorial behaviour when the women and queer people choose to leave him, to undermine other relationships in their lives, and maintain ‘ownership’ over them.
8. Shobhasakthi’s mobilization of his political and creative circles to undermine the experiences of the women and queer people and excuse his behaviour on the basis that the deviation of an artist is normal. 
9. Shobhasakthi’s encouragement of powerful friends and loyal supporters to bully, intimidate, disparage, and silence the women and queer people, which significantly reduced the confidence of the victims and left them confused. 
10. Shobasakthi’s promises to multiple women, simultaneously, in different countries and cities, that he is in a long-term, monogamous meaningful relationship with them, thereby misleading and gaslighting them and causing distress.

Stories disclosed by survivors:

Atmosphere of predation: The women who Shobhasakthi has preyed on have generally shared that they met him in the company of artists and intellectuals who vouched for his high principles. Several of the women and queer people confessed that they entered relationships with him believing that these individuals would offer them the same care and respect that they show him.  When the relationships turned sour and the women and queer people attempted to speak to his allies, they were told that Shobhasakthi’s traumatization due to the war, his history as a refugee, and someone who has generally experienced many hardships, should be pitied. 

When the women and queer people grew suspicious of Shobhasakthi’s obsessive and abusive behaviour and speak to his community about it, his friends dismissed it as the usual excesses and deviances from the norm of an artist and writer. They were browbeaten into accepting that these are the liberated habits of an artist. In all situations, they were silenced. In this manner, his ‘respectable’ allies ensure that these women remain in dysfunctional/abusive relationships with Shobhasakthi against their better judgment, or until he chooses to end the relationships. When he does eventually and abruptly end their relationships, Shobhasakthi justifies it by claiming that these women and queer people were merely attracted by his genius, fame, and intellect, and are trying to institutionalize him (into marriage and family) because of it. 

Controlling and territorial behaviour: From the stories that many of these persons tell, Shobhasakthi is persistently and overly possessive of them and unwilling to let go. One woman who was in a long-term relationship with him confided that he was so controlling with her that even when she tried to use the washroom, he would cling to her tearfully, asking, “Are you trying to go away and leave me?” When the women and queer people focus on their own career, or move on to other relationships, he is known to show up unexpectedly at their home. Suppose they end their relationship with him and move on, then encounter him in a public place, regardless of whether they are with their partners, Shobhasakthi acts as though he were still intimate with them to undermine their current relationships. In this manner, he has maintained control over these women long after their relationships ended and continued to sexually prey on them when the opportunity arises. 

Creating dependency and sympathy: Shobhasakthi repeats a pattern of narcissistic behaviour; love-bombing the women with excessive affection, and once under his control, neglecting them for long periods of time. He makes excessive claims to love these women at the beginning by speaking affectionately with them and saying he longs to have children with them, to gain their commitment and uses these claims to exploit them within the relationship. He goes as far as to give these imaginary, unborn children names, and makes all kinds of false promises to these young women and queer people, in some cases offering to help with their immigration papers to encourage their trust in him. He gains their sympathy by telling them about his past as a refugee and his many ailments, claiming that he requires their care, and has no one else to care for him. He even tells the women that they must light his funeral pyre one day.  One of the survivors says that she was afraid to have children with Shobasakthi because he was a chronic alcoholic and actively forced her to become one too. He uses the power he holds in the relationship to convince others that the women and queer people wanted to live with him only because they fell in love with his genius and not because he led them into what they thought was an extensive and meaningful connection. His intense clinginess, the trust he gained by weaving a picture of a future together, and the progressive ideals he spoke of, in addition to the attestation of his credibility endorsed by his friends and allies created a sense of safety that lured the women and queer people to develop deeper feelings for him. 

Exploited, marginalised transwomen: In at least one instance, he promised a trans woman that he would help her gain refugee status abroad but ended up sexually exploiting her. He went so far as to use their relationship and her life-experiences as source material for the screenplay of the film “Roobha,” in which he starred. The survivor shared that watching the film “Roobha” made her recognize Shobhasakthi’s true transphobic feelings, and that like other transphobic men, he had been sexually aggressive with her to satisfy his lust. She said that though she recognized it isn’t unusual to sexually exploit trans women, she had not expected to be used in such a degrading and inhumane manner by someone who claimed to be a trans ally.

Disparaging women and queer people: When asked about the abrupt ending of his many relationships, Shobhasakthi has claimed that he ended these relationships because the women and queer people were overly possessive of him. He has attempted to justify abandoning them by claiming that some of these persons were so possessive they were even jealous of him speaking to his own mother and sister and attempted to compel him to marry them. He has consistently used his fame and personality as a shield to protect himself. Shobhasakthi has collaborated in creating an arts group where similar predatory behaviour is enabled and condoned. Shobhasakthi uses his literary influence to defend other young writers accused of sexual misconduct, and to attempt to conceal his offences.

Intimidation and silencing: When people have attempted to speak to Shobhasakthi on behalf of the women and queer people he has harmed, he accuses them of moral policing and instigates his intellectual groupies to write character-assassinating articles, condemning the women and queer people and those who attempt to intervene on their behalf as conservative. Shobhasakthi also utilizes this method when intimate partners disclose his manipulative and controlling behaviour to others with power, approach his peers and friends to advocate on their behalf, or seek their advice on the nature of their relationship with him. Having lured women and queer people in several places, including India, Canada, and Europe, into sexual relationships through his manipulative scripts, he has driven two of them to attempt suicide. 

Yet even the women and queer people who came close to self-harm have not been spared by Shobhasakthi and his cronies. The esteemed individuals have gone as far as to victim-blame them, claiming, “A person with any self-esteem would not dwell on this relationship, but would get over it and move on with her life, but women and queer people with low or no self-esteem keep whining about these things or try to kill themselves.” Shobhasakthi’s sexually manipulative and controlling behaviour has been normalized by him and his allies in the arts, literature, and politics, who insist that the survivors should not feel victimized. According to their ‘postmodern’ ideals, if women and queer people feel victimized, they should keep quiet about it and move on. Thereby Shobhasakthi and his allies’ close ranks by blaming the victim, passing judgment on the women and queer people’s characters, and coercing them into silence. 

Isn’t it gender discrimination and a double-standard when the sexual exploitation carried out by men is seen as the acceptable liberated behaviour of an artist, but any liberated behaviour by a woman or queer person is seen as mental illness or some psychological issue? Which ideology teaches us that it is perfectly acceptable for a man who holds the title of author or artist to prey on more than twenty women and queer people by repeating the same script to each of them? The idea of the liberated artist as practiced by people like Shobasakthi and his friends, is merely a double-standard held by men who want to prey on women while claiming impunity for themselves and avoiding all accountability.

There is a common trend that can be observed in sexual predators; they treat women and queer people as sexual objects. When he is in a relationship with a young person and boasts that he has a young lover, or lists his past lovers in his drunken rants, it is obvious that Shobasakthi only sees the women and queer people as sexual objects, even if he presents himself to the world as progressive, and a voice against injustice and oppression. His attempts at controlling and stalking the women and queer people when they choose to leave him is more evidence that he sees them as objects to be ‘owned.’

No one who tries to disempower the frontline women and queer people who have come forward, whether through words, glares, or judgements has any right to ask: “What proof is there for all these claims?” “Why didn’t these women speak up back then?” “Why didn’t they learn martial arts?” “Didn’t they get into this relationship with him willingly?” and so on. We remind you that those who pretend not to understand how consent is coerced when men hold an unequal amount of power in our society continue to enable these sexual predators. These women and queer people have been coming forward for a long time and have been silenced or ridiculed. When this society evolves to the point of respecting the words of survivors and believing them, we will be able to give up the difficult responsibility of writing such calls for accountability.

We strongly condemn the supposed progressive movements, publishers, organizations and newspapers that have heard the testimonies of women and queer people who have spoken up despite overwhelming pressures, and have not called for any kind of accountability, instead lavishing Shobasakthi, and the young writers who use him as an example for their own sexually predatory behaviour, with platforms, awards and recognition. This statement has been compiled to expose these predators and the details of their predatory behaviour to ensure that other women and queer people are not further preyed on and to help those who are being exploited to see the red flags of predatory behaviour.

We call upon Shobasakthi to take accountability for his predatory, toxic, and unacceptable behavior that has adversely impacted multiple women and queer people emotionally, sexually, and economically and to refrain from such behaviour in the future.

We call upon Shobasakthi to assure the arts communities, with which he is involved, that he will not engage in similar behaviours in the future

We call upon all his allies to reflect on their actions which have enabled his inappropriate behavior instead of holding Shobasakthi accountable.

We call upon organizations that work with Shobasakthi to hold themselves accountable for their knowing or unknowing complicity with his activities.

We call upon the organizations and individuals who have been complicit in Shobasakthi’s activities, shielded him, and/or dismissed the women preyed on by him, to reflect on the long term harm that they have subjected these women and queer people (artists, intellectuals, and activists) to, and the subsequent harm done to the field, practice, and political movements to which these women and queer people have contributed.

When we remain silent in the face of injustice and trample indifferently on the voices of survivors, we support and uphold exploitation and oppression. In the face of this injustice, resistance must resound as the conscience of humanity. This statement is its echo.

In Solidarity

1.    Ambai (Writer/Mumbai, India)

2.    Ajitha K (Feminist Activist, President - Anweshi/Kozhikode, Kerala)

3.    Ajitha (Youth Leader/Vallamai, Jaffna, Sri Lanka) 

4.    Amala (Advocate/Delhi, India)

5.    Anandhi Suresh (Feminist Activist, Switzerland)

6.    Ananya ( Researcher and Artist/Delhi, India)

7.    Angel Queentus (LGBTQ+ Activist/Sri Lanka) 

8.    Anjana (Feminist Activist/Britain) 

9.    Anitha Vinayagam (Women and Queer Rights Activist and Entrepreneur/Chennai, India)

10. Ardra Sivan V (Member - Dravidian Political Society/Trivandrum/India)

11. Arpita Banerjee (Performing Artist and Writer/Mumbai)

12. Asha Achi Joseph (Film Director - Women in Cinema Collective/Kerala, India)

13. Asha Latha (Poet and Translator/Kerala, India)

14. Barathy Sivaraja (Marxist Feminist/Britain)

15. Bina Paul (Film Editor - Women in Cinema Collective/Kerala, India)

16. Bisliya Bhutto (Social Activist/Puttalam, Sri Lanka)

17. Chandra Nalliah (Feminist Activist/Canada)

18. Chinmayi Sriprada (Singer, Voice Actor and Entrepreneur/India)

19.  Dhamayanthi (Writer and Filmmaker/ Chennai, India)

20. J Devika (Feminist Scholar and Writer/Kerala, India)

21.  Deedi Damodaran (Screenwriter-Women in Cinema Collective/Kerala, India)

22. Deepalakshmi (Techie-Writer-Feminist/Chennai, India)

23. Dhivya Marunthaiah (Political Activist/India) 

24. Divya Bharathi (Independent Filmmaker and Advocate/Madurai, India)

25. Divya Gopinath (Actor-Women in Cinema Collective/Kerala, India)

26. Gargi Harithakam (Queer Feminist Activist - Vanaja Collective/ Kerala, India)

27. Glady Angel (Theatre Artist/Canada)

28. Geetha Narayanan (Development Consultant and Researcher/Chennai, India)

29. Harikeerthana (Feminist Activist/Australia) 

30. Hemalatha (Feminist Activist/Vallamai, Jaffna, Sri Lanka) 

31. Iris Koala (Poet and Translator/Kerala, India)

32. Ithayarani (Feminist Activist/Vizhuthu,Trinco, Sri Lanka)  

33. Jamal Hairunnisha (National Co-ordinator, Shakthi Abhiyan/Chennai, India)

34. Jothilakshmi (Advocate/Chennai, India)

35. Juwairiya Mohideen (Feminist Activist/Puttalam, Sri Lanka)

36. Kaitlin Emmanuel (Writer and Researcher/Toronto, Canada)

37. Kala Sriranjan (Writer/London, Britain)

38. Kalpradah (Filmmaker-Lyricist-Screenwriter/Chennai, India)

39. Kamaleshwary L(Activist/Colombo, Sri Lanka)

40. Kanthimathi (Advocate and Social worker/Chennai, India)

41. Kavitha Krishnan (Feminist Activist and Writer/Delhi, India)

42. Kavitha Muralidharan (Journalist/Chennai, India)

43. Kounthini R (Feminist Activist-Vallamai/Jaffna, Sri Lanka) 

44. Lareena Abdul Haq (Senior Lecturer-University of Sri Lanka/ Belihuloya, Sri Lanka)

45. Leena Manimekalai (Poet and Filmmaker/India, Canada) 

46. Leena Yadav (Filmmaker/Mumbai, India)

47. Leeny Elango (Poet, Researcher and Activist/Chennai, India)

48. Dr. Marie Drath (Literary Scholar and Activist/Switzerland) 

49. Malathi Maithri (Poet, Publisher-Anangu/Pondicherry, India)

50. Meera Sanghamitra (Activist, All India Feminist Alliance, India) 

51. Menaka (Feminist Activist/Switzerland) 

52. Mekha Rajan (Actor - Film and Theatre/Chennai/India)

53. Mohana Dharshini (Political Activist/Sri Lanka)

54. Moumita Alam (Poet and Essayist/West Bengal, India)

55. Nalini Ratnarajah (Women’s Human Rights Defender/ Batticaloa, Sri Lanka)

56. Nedra Rodrigo (Writer - Translator - Activist/Canada) 

57. Negha (Actor and Activist/Chennai, India)

58.  Neeruja (Feminist Activist - Thozhamai V/Jaffna, Sri Lanka) 

59.  Nithika S (Political Activist - Semmugam/Jaffna, Sri Lanka) 

60.  Nishtha Jain (Independent Filmmaker/Mumbai, India)

61.  Nivedita Louis (Co-Founder - Her Stories/Chennai, India)

62.  Nivetha Krishnan (Feminist, Entrepreneur/Chennai, India)

63.  Niventhini S (Feminist Activist - Vallamai/Jaffna, Sri Lanka) 

64.  Niyanthini Kadirgramar (PhD Candidate/USA)

65.  Padma Prabha (Feminist Activist/Davos, Switzerland) 

66.  Ponni A (Independent Feminist Historian/Sri Lanka)

67.  Ponni Brinda (Feminist Researcher Consultant/India) 

68.  Poorani (Co-Founder - Penn Collective/Chennai, India)

69.  Pranjali (Researcher/Delhi, India)

70.  Pritha Mahanti (Independent Writer and Editor/West Bengal, India)

71.  Priya Kanniah (Activist, Entrepreneur/Chennai, India)

72.  Priya Tharmaseelan (Photographer/Canada) 

73.  Priyatharshini Vincentperis (Independent Journalist/Canada) 

74.  Ramya Sampathkumar (Member-Dravidian Political Society/Bangalore/India)

75.  Ratneswari (Feminist Activist-Aanaikkottai Women’s Organisation/Sri Lanka) 

76.  Rachel Walter (Political Activist/India) 

77.  Rajany Rajeshwary (Consultant -Thozhamai V/Jaffna, Sri Lanka) 

78.  Ranjani Krishnankumar (Writer and Entrepreneur/Chennai, India)

79.  Revathy (Film Director and Actor -  Women in Cinema Collective/India)

80.  Rima Kallingal (Film Producer and Actor - Women in Cinema Collective/Kerala, India)

81.  Sabaritha (Social Worker/Chennai, India)

82.  Sathiya R (Student/Trinco, Sri Lanka) 

83.  Selvi ( Co-ordinator - Manithi/ Chennai, India)

84.  Shabnam Hashmi (Social Activist, Founder - ANHAD/New Delhi, India)

85.  Shamini V (Feminist Activist, Thozhamai V/Jaffna, Sri Lanka) 

86.  Sharmila Sagara (Professor - Anant National University/Gujarat, India)

87.  Sheeva Dubey (National Alliance For People’s Movements/Pune, India)

88.  Shobhitha Krishnamoorthy (Writer/Chennai, India)

89.  Shreen Abdul Saroor (Co-Founder, Women’s Action Network/Sri Lanka)

90.  Shydhah Zara Nizamudeen (Human Rights Activists/Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka)

91.  Siva Malathy (Feminist Activist/Sri Lanka) 

92.  Sreejaya Radhakrishnan (Screenwriter/Mumbai, India)

93.  Subanya Sivajothy (Writer and Librarian/Toronto, Canada)

94.  Subhathra Devi ( Vice President - Rajiv Gandhi Panjayati Raj Sangathan/Chennai, India)

95.  Sutha Selvarajah (HIV Peer Educator/Vavuniya, Sri Lanka)

96.  Suganthi (Feminist Activist, Vallamai/Sri Lanka) 

97.  Dr. Tadchaigeni Panchalingam (Health Educator/USA)

98.  Tamil Feminist Collective, Canada

99.  Tamilini (Artist/Canada)

100. Tangella Madhavi (Independent Filmmaker/Kolkata, India)

101. Dr. Tanuja Thurairajah (Feminist Geographer and Human Rights Enthusiast/Sri Lanka, Switzerland) 

102. Tharmika (Lawyer/Sri Lanka)

102. Uma Shanika (Feminist Activist/Germany) 

103. Uma Makheswari K (Tamil Professor/Pollachi, India)

104. Usha P.E (Feminist Activist/Trivandrum/Kerala, India)

105. Utpala (Activist/Allahabad, India)

106. Vanaja Kanthiah (Feminist Activist/ Paris, France)

107. Vasuki (Social Activist/Toronto, Canada)

108. Vigy Nalliah (Feminist Activist/France) 

109. Viji Murugaiyah (Community Organiser/Toronto, Canada)

110. Vinta Nanda (Filmmaker, Writer and Editor of The Daily Eye/Mumbai, India)zs

111. Vinothini Balasubramaniam (Journalist, Social Activist/Colombo, Sri Lanka)

112. Vijayalakshmi T (Professor, Writer and Activist/Kerala, India)

113. Vithursha Kamaleswaran (Feminist Activist, Sri Lanka)

114. Yalini (Writer/Canada)

115. Kutti Revathi(Poet, Filmmaker/Chennai, India)

116. Tamil Arts Collective, Canada

117. Luxmy Sivasamboo (Feminist Activist, France)

118. Tharmika (Lawyer/Sri Lanka)