“Heeeeeey,” Drew Afualo opens her TikTok videos. “We gotta talk about something hilarious,” followed by her trademark giggle-laugh that strikes fear into every internet misogynist.
The 26-year-old TikTok creator has made a name for herself by posting reactionary content on the app. She pulls no punches when responding to misogyny and bigotry online — often against men hiding behind obscure usernames and nondescript profile pictures — and subverts the idea that taking the high road is the best and only route. (It’s not.)
“I just make fun of terrible dudes on the internet, which is a real short synopsis of it. The longer-form version would be that I essentially just stick up for women and many other marginalized groups,” she said. “And turn the tables when it comes to bigotry that’s so casually consumed online. It’s just turned into a crusade, if you will.”
Dubbed the “defender of women” by her fans — she has 7.7 million followers on TikTok — Afualo’s crusade has developed into a cult following and her own podcast aptly titled “The Comment Section With Drew Afualo.”
“Women are expected to be quiet and calm in the face of any kind of disrespect whatsoever. They are expected to take the high road every single time. ‘You should be the bigger person. Why don’t you be classy?’ That type of mentality is rooted in misogyny,” she said.
“For me, I’ve always found it odd when people are extremely misogynistic, because that’s not how I was raised.”
Afualo said she has always been outspoken against bullies. She detests when people “pick on others who would never swing.”
“I have an older sister and a younger brother. Me being a middle child makes sense to a lot of people too, because middle children tend to be the most confrontational children,” she said. “I always feel like it’s an attention thing, too. We gotta show out or no one’s gonna see me.”
Raised in a Samoan family from Southern California, Afualo grew up around sports her entire life, and her initial goal upon graduating college was to be an on-air sports talent. She hustled as the sports editor for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s student newspaper and worked for the school’s athletic department, making appearances at March Madness, Pac-12 Conference games and other big sports events.
Despite sending reels, résumés and decks with her clips to countless employers, her first job after undergrad was in public relations for a…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Culture & Arts…