Christina Vithoulkas enters a bar with her mates with fully made-up hair and make-up and the confident exuberance of a 20-something ready for a good time.
She peppers her chats with her wing women with healthy swear words and musings on who she wants to hook up with.
It's a common scene in any big city, but for the subject of SBS documentary We Are Sexual Beings, which explores the sex lives of those with disability, Vithoulkas has one distinction: she rolls into clubs in a wheelchair.
It's business as usual on a Friday night as she chats up a young man who asks for her number.
"I'm not nervous about talking about sex, nothing is off limits," Vithoulkas tell SBS Voices. "People listen to me because I think they realise 'Sh**, Christina boasts about what a good sex life she has and she can't even feel her vagina! So, let's listen to what she has to say.'" she laughs.
A motorbike accident left her paralysed from the torso down in September 2018. But she says her life now is better than before her injury when she was depressed and in a dysfunctional relationship.
At the time of the accident her family and hospital staff thought she was mad for being so upbeat. "I'm just very aware of how powerful our minds are," she says.
...the life that I'm living now is so much more valuable and so much more appreciated
"I was thinking everyone is so upset because you are all made to think that being paralysed is the end of the world. I'm like, 'Well, I'm just gonna make it the best thing that ever happened to me.' And three and a half years later… not one day has (the injury) given me a bad day. I've never felt guilty or upset about myself. I've never said to myself, 'F***, why has this happened to me?'
"I would not change a thing… the life that I'm living now is so much more valuable and so much more appreciated. I felt like I was undervaluing my life before. Why wouldn't I upgrade it if I can?"
For Vithoulkas, conquering fears was all about putting herself on the line despite the nerves, and being creative and direct about her needs. "I sh** myself when I meet someone I like and I want to hook up with," she confesses.
"I believe in manifestation, but at the same time you can't just say the sh**. You've got to put actions into it. The amount of times I've put myself in the most uncomfortable positions just because I know it's good for me," she says.
Vithoulkas says the secret to good sex is communication and avoiding one-night stands, though she doesn't caution against them completely.
"I just feel like that [great one night stand] happened once… compared to one-in-how-many times you might go with a guy and he doesn't know what he's doing… You kind of want the guy to already know that stuff. You don't wanna do that communicating right before you have the sex or during the sex. You want to have that conversation a week before and then when it comes to it, it's a whole experience. You gotta get the full package.
The sex I'm having is better than before my injury
"The sex I'm having is better than before my injury. But my sex life has dropped because I've got to a point in my life where I really do appreciate the sex that I have now and how important it is. I'm getting better and better sex because of all this mental stimulation. I want the best sex ever. I feel like the best sex ever, it can't be with a complete random," she says.
The other advice she had for herself when psyching herself up to be filmed for the first time for this documentary was to imagine her future self.
"Nothing that you think is scary is actually anywhere near as scary as you think it is… I would picture the future me thanking myself: 'You just went through that embarrassing moment of putting yourself out there, being vulnerable and doing it'," she says.
Vithoulkas says her injury made her value and love her body more, bringing her an acute understanding of its rhythms and moods. It's a lesson she hopes all women can take away in terms of valuing their bodies in a world that scrutinises and polices them.
"Your body is literally your shell to move you around this world, to experience everything. If you are gonna spend your life not liking certain parts of it – cellulite, the stretch marks – you're literally wasting energy and time."
Curious Australia launches with We Are Sexual Beings premiering at 8.30pm, followed by Black Empire at 9pm, Thursday 4 August on SBS VICELAND and NITV. Curious Australia documentaries continue to air back to back on Thursday 11 and 18 August, with the final doco airing on SBS VICELAND only, on 25 August. for all the details on what's on when. Watch the trailer now:
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