This is a visual response to the misogynist comments and online harassment I have faced since posting my injuries at the hands of a man I got into a barfight with last weekend. The story went viral, and I was on CBC Radio as well as in CBC news reminding women of the dangers of fighting back against sexual harassment and aggressive men. After being sexually harrassed several times and standing up for a fellow woman in the bar, I threw a drink on him, he attacked me and choked me, I smashed a pint glass over his head, and he punched me in the face. In the end, I ended up with 6 stitches across my nose, two black eyes, and other bruises and cuts not worth mentioning. I don’t know what happened to him, but I know I cut him badly and there was a lot of blood.
The amount of support I received, especially from strangers, was overwhelming. But so were the opposing comments on the articles posted, and the private messages I received from angry men who saying I deserved it, and worse, and they wish I had been murdered. Many roll their eyes and will say things like, “never look at the comments!” But we do need to look at the comments. They are representative of the darkest corners of humanity that exist beyond the internet. People need to know this is real. These are real people walking around in our daily lives; the guy sitting next to you on the metro, the person you call for your internet tech support, the branch manager at your bank. It could be that cute boy you have a crush on in your class, or that self-proclaimed “nice guy” you just started dating. These are real people typing these things on their keyboards and they represent our real-life problems regarding violence against women.
So when I am in a familiarly dangerous situation where I feel threatened because of my past experiences, there is a good chance my reflex is going to be fight and not flight and that “fight” might just be a pint glass over the head when you put your hands around my throat. Choking someone because they threw a drink on you for continually harassing you and your friends is a disproportionate response. As far as I’m concerned, not listening when a woman says “no” to your sexual advances and failed pick-up artistry is equal to throwing the first punch, and I was sticking up for myself. I have no regrets, despite what my face may look like. The fact I feel like I have to explain all this in my defense is ridiculous.
This piece is an act of activism through art, inspired by recent conversations on the importance of art which results from internet culture, DIY, Molly Soda, and the project I’m currently working on for Così e Così, who is also a big influence of mine in general..
* you can hear my interview with CBC Radio on what happened and what I have to say to women here.
disabled princesses and disabled superheroes are so important where the fuck are they
I think we can agree that Toph is anything but disabled.
no, Toph is disabled, being disabled is not a bad thing why are people so adamant that she isn;t disabled what the fuck is this
I was saying she isn’t disabled because it really does not cause a hinderance.
and yet she is seen as weak by her family and many others for being blind and is restricted because of it, hence being disabled
like disabled people can go out and be awesome and kick ass god we don’t just suddenly stop being disabled when we do things
Toph is disabled and I am not letting you take away one of the few god damn fictional characters that represent disabled people in fiction let alone one of the few characters I can relate to as a disabled person.
I know a blind person who plays all kinds of sports and a person with asperger syndrome who both run in marathons. I have a wheelchair using friend who went overseas to represent our country in wheelchair basketball.
I have Cerebral Palsy and trust me when I tell you I achieved things doctors thought I wouldn’t.
These include things such as drawing. The fact of the matter is I struggle writing at a decent pace and I still managed to teach myself how to write in Japanese and have straight As in the subject in high school which included writing in it in exams.
Let’s talk about how Toph’s disability and how it’s shown in the show:
She can not see when she is on sand, the grains are too small for her to use her method of “seeing” (which is through tiny vibrations through the earth)
She can’t see when in water. Hence the kissing of Suki thinking it was Sokka.
She can’t read.
She can’t put a poster the right way up because she literally can’t see which is the right way up.
You know it hinders her in some ways but not in others. Did you know that disabled people actually adjust to their conditions because they live with it all the time and learn to deal with it. Which is exactly what Toph did. She learned another way of seeing. She learned how to fight. She learned how to turn her weakness into a strength and there is no way in hell I’m letting you take that away for me.
Please get rid of your ablest notion that if a disabled person achieves or adjusts to their disability that they have somehow “overcome” their disability and are no longer disabled any more. That is so disgusting and wrong.
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