The recent allegations of rape and sexual harassment against well-known fantasy author Neil Gaiman reaffirm how often the ones we idolise and put up on a pedestal are the ones who end up betraying us the most. A number of women have come forward with allegations of sexual violence against the author, and these narratives were reported in an article in The Vulture dated January 13. In the article, the Gaimans’ nanny, Scarlett Pavlovich, recounted her traumatic experience of her consent being violated several times during the time when she babysat Neil and his then partner Amanda Palmer’s children. The article notes how Neil’s actions were often directly or indirectly enabled by Palmer, who was complicit in most instances of sexual misconduct by him.
The article also details how Gaiman sexually violated Caroline Wallner, ‘a potter who, along with her builder husband, Phillip, had been living on (the Gaimans’) Woodstock property and working as a caretaker.‘ According to the piece, Neil did not have any boundaries, even in front of his children and would violate women while they were in the room or the house.
Neil Gaiman: a history of abuse
The accusations against Neil Gaiman are not unprecedented. In January 2024, the author was accused of unwanted sexual behaviour and violence by five women in a podcast titled ‘The Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman.’ There were no charges pressed, and Gaiman refuted the allegations. The article in The Vulture outlines Gaiman’s history of sexual abuse with more women coming forward, corroborating the fact that Gaiman is not the feminist he claimed to be.
On Tuesday, Gaiman responded to the allegations in a lengthy yet vague post on his website. He recounted that he was horrified and dismayed at the accusations, denying that there was any abuse or consent violation.
“As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen. I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever,” he writes.
Gaiman’s fall from grace is disappointing but not surprising. For a long time now, self-proclaimed “feminists,” from activists and artists to authors championing progressive politics in their texts, have been found out to be serial abusers and rapists. Such well-loved figures like Tarun Tejpal, the founder of Tehelka, and actors James Franco and Justin Baldoni, to name a few, are everything that a male ally stands for in theory. They are creative, brooding, and charismatic. They say the right things and align themselves with the right politics and movements. But when the facade slips, it is made apparent that they are not the heroes we made them out to be.
In Gaiman’s famed Sandman series, fans have often aligned his persona with that of the magical Sandman, the ruler of the realm of dreams. The Sandman is always fair and righteous and does not have a blot, or as much as a smudge, in his character. He is the saviour of the marginalised and the downtrodden. For long, Gaiman was considered as larger than life as his fictional creation. Not only a magical fantasy world, Gaiman had also built an enigmatic persona for himself—one that sat right with his fans, young and old.
Reconciling the art with the artist?
It is now, when the truth is out in the open, that readers are faced with the murky task of reconciling with the fact that their favourite author, the one who gave them fantastical masterpieces like Coraline, American Gods, and Good Omens, is actually a predator who has systemically abused his power to exploit vulnerable women. At this time, therefore, it is once again important to re-evaluate the age-old debates around separating the art from the artist. Can we, as readers and lovers of fantasy, ever read his texts without the shadow of the fact that he is an usurper of power, looming large over the pages? Can an Ocean at the End of the Lane or a Coraline ever be read, revisited, or discussed in isolation without remembering the fact that the author who created such beloved literary magic is actually a rapist?
Can we, as readers and lovers of fantasy, ever read his texts without the shadow of the fact that he is an usurper of power, looming large over the pages?
As lovers of all things literary, it is common knowledge to us that banning books, however murky the politics and character of the author is, is a failed project. Not only does this act promote censorship and the conservative right-wing rhetoric of silencing the literary voice, it is also an attack on free speech. Instead, free speech with consequences must be the way ahead. The reader is not a senseless child who is to be kept away from the text by force or by law. The reader is an aware individual who must go into the text with full knowledge of the author’s politics, opinions, and character history. Readers of Gaiman must be made aware of his horrific actions, and they must be encouraged to read his texts, hitherto progressive and unmarred by the author’s own life, in light of the allegations made against him. Readers must consciously and critically engage with the text, knowing full well that this author is a violator, abuser, and rapist.
From the business point of view, Gaiman’s literature and their screen adaptations have made him extremely famous and rich. The author has profited immensely off the sale of his books, fandom merchandise, and the deals with production houses for the cinematic adaptations of the same. Readers must henceforth be encouraged not to purchase his books firsthand from bookshops or publishers. Instead, if they wish to read them and not support the author, they should find ways to do so that do not monetarily help the author. Borrowing and retelling of texts and films, in this case, are options to look for when one wishes to boycott an author.
It is imperative to keep in mind that reading or consuming media from a creator who has been called out for their misconduct in ways that do not monetarily benefit them is not “supporting the creator.” One can consume the media and literature to critically inspect the creator’s art and how that conflates with their persona and life.
In fact, critically engaging with Gaiman’s texts at this time, with the conscious knowledge of the violence perpetrated by him, might actually help readers process and understand how abusers often mask their violent tendencies using a veneer of progressive political consciousness. It might even help dismantle preconceived notions about the author’s greatness and expose him for he really is.
Gaiman and the myth of a male ally hero
The sexual abuse charges levied against Neil Gaiman prove how a male “feminist” ally might just be a chimeric dream and how, more often than not, our heroes are exposed and pulled down from their pedestals. Often, these falls from grace might seem like a very personal betrayal—as feminists and readers, we have been guilty of assigning greatness to men who we deem to be creative geniuses. We have deified men like Gaiman and declared that he is a faultless, guiltless God who is almost “incapable” of the perversion he has been accused of. It is telling that in the Vulture article, his victims, many of whom were fans, also felt the same way.
It is therefore greatly important to humanise our heroes and hold them accountable instead of exalting them by putting them on a gilded throne. The collective disappointment and betrayal we might feel is symptomatic of an alarming culture of hero worship in fandoms.
Neil Gaiman’s fall from grace brings forth many discussions and debates around hero worship, art versus the artist, and the myth of a powerful male feminist ally. It should be remembered that this is not an isolated incident but a systemic result of our violent patriarchal socio-cultural milieu. As feminists, readers, and erstwhile fans, it is our duty, at this time, to engage in meaningful conversation to seek justice for the survivors and not let the discourse on celebrity-perpetrated violence die out.
