"Piss on Pity" is a slogan coined by musician Johnny Crescendo (Alan Holdsworth) in 1990 to protest stereotypes of

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

people. It was first deployed during the 1990 and 1992 Block Telethon protests outside of

ITV Studios ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadca ...

in the United Kingdom. The slogan was printed on t-shirts and thousands were sold. "Piss On Pity" is a rallying cry for those in the disability-inclusive circles of world politics. According to its proponents, the implication of the slogan is that

pity Pity is a sympathetic sorrow evoked by the suffering of others, and is used in a comparable sense to '' compassion'', ''condolence'' or ''empathy'' – the word deriving from the Latin ''pietas'' (etymon also of '' piety''). Self-pity is pi ...

, while seeming to be a positive, helpful emotion, actually is derogatory. According to them, it is based in conscious or unconscious aversion to disabled people and the ableism that that aversion consciously or unconsciously represents. According to

Barbara Lisicki Barbara Lisicki is a British disability rights activist, comedian, and equality trainer. She is a founder of the Disabled People's Direct Action Network (DAN), an organization that engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience to raise awareness and t ...

, an organizer of the Block Telethon protests, on the BBC show ''Network'' in 1989, "If you make a disabled person an object of charity, you're not going to see them as your equal." Activists using the slogan will often explain that their ultimate goal in a militant, provocative slogan of this type is to get across the message that, like

anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

and anti-

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

, they want to purge

from worldwide social discourse on disability, at both the governmental and cultural levels, and instead foster disability-inclusive practices and equal

power politics Power politics is a theory in international relations which contends that distributions of power and national interests, or changes to those distributions, are fundamental causes of war and of system stability. The concept of power politics pro ...

. ”Piss on Pity” was the title of an exhibition by disabled artists, that took place in Wakefield, UK, in 2019. Their artwork reflected the antipathy of the disabled people's movement towards charity. The exhibition showed disabled artists challenging the widespread idea that charity is a force wholly for good.

References

* Disability rights Political catchphrases {{activism-stub

See also

References