the enemy within: wiscon, disability, and hatred

here is a hiatus from my hiatus. [this was originally posted on my other blog; i've cleaned it up quite a bit so that there's not as much swearing.]

most of you have probably heard about the wiscon thing. in summary, for those who haven't: female SA forum-er and grad student (question: in what universe is this acceptable behavior for someone in grad school?) goes to wiscon, takes pictures of folks whom she can make fun of due to their perceived flaws--including fatness, disability, and being transgender--and then posts her whole "report" on something awful, complete with thinly disguised photos. people are upset, of course, and, sadly, it has devolved into some going so far as to send death threats to the original poster (which, in my view, is going too far). in case you're still confused, here's a roundup from some of the folks at journalfen. amptoons also has a great summary.

and please, prospective commenters, for your sanity and mine, DO NOT TRY TO TELL ME THAT SHE DIDN'T OR DOESN'T MEAN THIS SHIT, or that it isn't hurtful, or doesn't have concrete effects. it is so, so obvious to me that she meant this:

I remember how much I hate my fellow women, and then I go the whole rest of the year thankful that normal life is never this horrible.

and this:

The worst part for me is keeping silent while they [fat people at wiscon] claim that every doctor who tells you that being morbidly obese isn't fine for your health is being paid off by the pharmaceutical or diet companies.

and, by god, this:

Cynthia (a polyamorous woman in a group marriage with [the fake disease] fibromyalgia)

this was what really got me [awful grammar nonwithstanding!].

this comment just proves that if you don't have a "normal" body in this society, you are hated. it is okay, apparently, for people to mock you if you have a disability, particularly if they can't see it. if they can't see it, IT MUST BE FAKE. YOU ARE MAKING IT UP, so suck it up/take a tylenol/get out of bed/stop whining or otherwise making other people uncomfortable. hate towards non-normative bodies is very common and accepted in our society--and here is proof. additionally, i do not understand how this woman can call herself a feminist and also find it perfectly acceptable to mock other people because of their bodies, or their disability, or their gender identity. that is not feminist. sorry.

memo to op rachel moss: do your research (this should be easy for you, particularly since you're working your way toward a phd). fibro is not a disease. you can't catch it, although it would be kind of ironic if one could catch it, and then you or someone close to you did. then, perhaps you would think twice about talking out of your ass and posting your tripe on the internet. it's not "fake," either.

i hope i meet you one day, rachel moss, so that i can get you to understand that this condition is real, and that it changes peoples' lives. of course, since you make yourself sound like you're obviously in perfect health, you wouldn't know anything about that, would you? maybe since i'm not fat (although, in your view, i might be), you might take what i have to say more seriously than what the fat people who have health problems such as fibromyalgia have said.

one can always hope.

there's more, of course, but i don't quite have the heart to tackle it all right now.

a hiatus, of sorts

so here's why i haven't been around for a while: i fell about a week and a half ago (embarrassingly, i tripped over myself while walking from class and made a spectacularly hard landing on the pavement below) and now have to deal with a possible thumb-bone fracture. obviously, it's hard for me to type, but what's worse is that this whole thing has rendered me more disabled than usual.

i'll still be around (hopefully the doctors will figure out whether or not it's actually a hairline fracture soon!), but i probably won't be commenting around the blogosphere as much, or updating here until i make a full recovery from my fall.

until then: i feel honored to have been included in hoyden about town's femmostroppo top 40 for 2007. go read all of the posts included, because they are all fantastic! i know that's what i'll be doing, as reading is one of the things that i am able to do at this point.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young 'Mite

By "mite," I mean "fibromite." This is sort of an unusual submission for the 37th Disability Blog Carnival. My thoughts have been scattered this week, as I've been having a moderate-to-massive fibro attack; since I drew this while I was in a ton of pain, it seemed like an appropriate thing to post.

BEHOLD, A SELF-PORTRAITY TYPE CARTOON AND ITS ARTIST! The quality isn't great, but you'll understand the idea (click to embiggen):



DESCRIPTION: Annaham (or half of her face, anyway) with her piece, which depicts a nude, hairy-legged young woman who stands against a white background. The woman has a rather confused look on her face. Needles pierce her body, and one of her wrists is secured in a chain that goes nowhere. Her fist is raised nonetheless. Awkward lumps of flesh form the woman's feet. Her torso is split open, revealing a broken column suspended in black sludge. The woman depicted here is obviously uncomfortable. Medium: Black ballpoint pen on college ruled-paper.

It doesn't have a title. I suppose that the general idea behind this piece is to convey to the viewer what being in near-constant pain is like, at least for me. [See if you can guess who my artistic influences have been and currently are!]