A sign at the Toronto protest for justice in the Cindy Gladue case. Photo by Michael Toledano
This post originally appeared on VICE Canada.
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The outcome of Cindy Gladue’s murder trial, in which jurors acquitted Bradley Barton of all charges related to her death despite testimony that the accused’s fist caused her fatal 11-centimeter vaginal wound, sparked national outrage.
In a case horrifying because of both the incident itself and the use of Gladue’s preserved pelvis as courtroom evidence, the precedent this case could set is paralyzing. What jurors really said, according to Alberta lawyer Koren Lightning-Eagle, was that Gladue, a sex worker, consented to die by the hand of her client.
Her death is seemingly another cautionary tale of how rough sex kills, another case in which women performing sex work were “consensually” fisted to death. Women have died in circumstances supposedly similar to Gladue in Korea and the US.
But, among the many troubling aspects of this case—which includes, but is not limited to discrimination against indigenous women and sex workers—sex educators, therapists, and former doctors take issue with the explanation of “consensual fisting” that the jurors in the Gladue case found to be true. It doesn’t add up, they say, and it may be one of the most tragic and recent examples of why a thorough sex education is necessary to prevent miscarriages of justice.
An excerpt of the justice’s instructions to jurors where he cautions them against relying on any of the medical experts’ testimony
Before we go any further, let’s make one thing clear: Fisting is not a punch. It’s not a hand being forced into someone’s body. It’s generally a very slow process that sex therapist Tara McKee would prefer to call “handing.” She explains to her clients “it has to take time, lots of lubricant and patience, and communication” to do pleasurably and safely.
Andrea Zanin, also known as the Sex Geek, writes regularly about sexuality and facilitates workshops in Canada where she teaches people how to fist or be fisted.
“A case like Cindy Gladue with an 11-centimeter fisting wound is like the height of bullshit. That anyone would suggest that is to me a really clear indication that these medical professionals didn’t know what the fuck they were talking about,” she said.
Zanin has a point. The three medical experts called to testify in Gladue’s trial about the likelihood of what caused Gladue’s fatal wound admitted as much to jurors. All three “acknowledged that they have little if any experience with the practice of fisting.” Justice Robert Graesser even cautioned jurors against relying on the experts’ testimony when considering how Gladue was injured.
Kitty Stryker, a porn producer and performer based in Los Angeles, curated a day dedicated to fisting education, National Fisting Day, and creates resources for people to learn how to fist or receive a fist safely. When Striker heard Barton’s story, she discounted it immediately.
“I was just like you obviously don’t know anything about fisting because even the types of injuries you would sustain from fucking up fisting would be nothing like the injuries she sustained,” she said.
“It’s illogical. Just from a physiological standpoint, it doesn’t make any sense.”
Robert Lawrence, a San Francisco-based sex educator, therapist, and former chiropractor has been working in the field of sexuality for more than 40 years. His medical career brought him into contact with the legal and medical systems and he notes a discrepancy in understanding of injuries from fisting.
Graesser wrote in his instructions to jurors “wounds resulting from this type of activity are rare.” It’s a statement Lawrence doesn’t necessarily agree with.
“If you went down to the hospital and asked all the emergency rooms they’d say, ‘Yeah, yeah, we see that in the queer community,’” he said, explaining that injuries from fisting do occur. But what the court needs to shine a light on is the context: what injuries from fisting generally look like, common causes, and the signs of injury.
The understanding gap is the Crown’s fault, he explained, for not calling experts with direct experience with fisting. “They didn’t do due diligence.”
Stryker takes that critique a step further. “They were dependent on the fact that people don’t know anything about fisting,” she said. Stryker puts the responsibility on the shoulders of regulatory bodies who charge pornographers with obscenity for showing fisting (among other activities) on film.
“Part of the reason they don’t know anything about fisting is because fisting is often illegal to show,” she said. “Of course people are going to misunderstand fisting if they never see it.”
Sexologist and educator Carol Queen believes societal misunderstandings of fisting are symptomatic of the broader education system.
“So many people have gotten bad sex education that many, many people are not that sexually knowledgeable.”
Would a knowledgeable expert on fisting have resulted in jurors making a different decision? We might eventually have a response if the Crown prosecutors successfully appeal the jury’s not-guilty verdict for Barton.
Note: No currently practicing Canadian physicians would comment on this article for VICE. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada told VICE questions about health and physiology related to vaginal fisting did not make their priority list of media questions with “the most impact and are most closely related to our mission and work.” The Society’s mission is to advance the health of women.
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