On February 3, as Rose McGowan was promoting her memoir “Brave” at a Barnes and Noble in New York, transactivist Andi Dier heckled her from the crowd, demanding to know what McGowan has ever done for the trans movement. The video has since gone viral with many on the liberal end of the political spectrum accusing McGowan of transphobia, taking the perspective of Dier rather than McGowan, a rape survivor who has risked her safety, career and mental health in order to speak out. McGowan has also been accused of racism and appropriating the Me Too movement founded by Tarana Burke.

However, what I’d like to address are the claims of sexual abuse against Dier that have been documented online since around 2012. There is a wealth of damning evidence against Dier found on blogs across social media to corroborate the claims. The evidence portrays, in Dier’s own words, a person who is mentally unstable and preys on young girls. If true, this would mean that McGowan, a rape survivor, was effectively censored by a sexual predator. The remainder of her book tour for Harper Collins has been cancelled following the altercation at Barnes and Noble.

On Saturday McGowan tweeted: “I am cancelling upcoming public appearances because I have given enough. I have given beauty, in return I was VERBALLY ASSAULTED for two full minutes, Barnes & Noble, by a actor paid to verbally assault a woman who has been terrorised by your system. And no ONE in that room did anything. And everyone from my publicists, to assistants, managers and every person sitting in their chairs frozen by their weakness, a weakness called COMPLICITY. The truth is you all failed me. Again. And again. And again.”

Regardless of criticisms leveled against McGowan, it would behoove the left and anyone who claims to align with feminist politics to condemn Dier’s actions and the resulting censorship of a woman speaking out against sexual abuse. The reactions to this situation on social media have reflected what McGowan calls a “cult of complicity”, which is an apt description of the liberal knee-jerk reaction to defend Dier’s right to womanhood, police pronouns, and tarnish McGowan with accusations of transphobia. Her crimes: daring to center women in feminism, and defending herself against verbal attacks during her book promotion.

Over the past few days, multiple sexual assault allegations against Dier have surfaced, mainly through Twitter, some of which date back to 2012.