Aged six, Cherie, lost a leg to bone cancer, and has spent her life helping other amputees, fielding online questions and working to improve accessibility and awareness.
Now 27, she models and is an influencer, working to dispel myths about disability.
Despite the great work she’s doing, though, she’s still not immune to online idiots and trolls bombarding her with insults and threats.
Recently, the Melbourne resident posted a jokey Twitter reply as part of a social media game. The original tweet said ‘name something you can’t do’, to which Cherie replied a selfie and the caption ‘cross my legs’.
That’s when the barrage of explicit and disgusting comments started coming in from trolls.
Sharing screenshots of some of the comments she’d received, Cherie said: ‘Men are so funny and original and smart’.
Of their ‘witty’ remarks, multiple people said they’d give her their third leg (sure she’s never heard that before *eye roll*) and another rated her legs 1 out of 2 (*eye rolls so hard I can see my brain*).
In a sickening turn, one person even replied to the picture claiming that Cherie’s disability would make her easier to rape. The shocking tweet, loosely translated from French, said ‘two times less effort to rape her, I do not think that with one leg she can do much’.
If that wasn’t already a damning indictment of how women – and particularly disabled women – are treated, another man implied that Cherie had brought it on herself.
‘What do you expect from men when you post something sexy or half naked?’ asked the tweeter, clearly ignoring the fact that Cherie was fully clothed in the pictures, and demonstrating just how low the bar is for some.
It’s not really a PSA you’d imagine you’d have to repeat, but even if Cherie had been fully naked in her pictures, there’s still no justification for rape threats, objectification, and being an annoying sex-pest reply guy.
Sadly, it is something that has to be said again, and something Cherie has experienced throughout her life.
‘None of this is new. I’ve had comments like these all my life,’ she said.
‘Not just on the internet. Men on the streets have come up to me and said all of these things before.
‘We can’t pretend this behaviour only exists online. But just because I’m used to it, and don’t get upset about it, doesn’t mean I understand it or that it’s okay.’
Cherie uses her public image to hold trolls, ableist individuals, and misogynists to account, and the screenshots of the sick replies have now racked up thousands of social media likes.
She continued: ‘Although I understand the more public I am, the more negative attention I will garner, I think it does more good than bad.’
source https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/06/amputee-barraged-trolls-say-one-leg-make-easier-rape-11050494/
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