Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Santos, Ana Cristina
Data de Publicação: 2018
Outros Autores: Santos, Ana Lúcia
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10316/47660
https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460716688680
Resumo: Southern European society has been described in sociological literature as ableist, patriarchal and male-oriented. Under such conditions, many disabled women face multiple oppressions on grounds of gender, disability, class, age, sexual orientation, ‘race’ and ethnicity. The social construction of the impaired body as passive and dependent is conducive to a process of desexualization, presenting disabled people as inadequate for a full intimate life. The dominant biomedical model reinforces this process. This article draws on selected works in feminist disability studies to argue that rather than a body which is unfit, or does not fit, the ‘misfit’ is instead a cultural failure in accommodating and cherishing diversity. The authors also suggest that the desexualization of disabled women is replicating, as well as resulting from, historical tendencies to dehumanize and infantilize women. The empirical data is drawn from a larger project ‘Disabled Intimacies? Sexual and Reproductive Citizenship of Disabled Women in Portugal’. Biographical narrative interviews with disabled women are analyzed to explore the notion of ‘misfit’ sexual bodies. Theirs are stories of counter-norms and the struggle for sexual fulfilment and recognition. The women’s discussions of sexuality point to a need to change the ways that disability and intimacy are addressed in mainstream scholarly literature, institutions and the state. Narrow, heteronormative and ableist understandings of sexual intercourse and the linear character of mainstream stories of intimacy are shown as hindering the prospect of the recognition of disabled women as sexual citizens.
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spelling Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narrativesDisabilityFeminist disability studiesPortugalSexual citizenshipSouthern European society has been described in sociological literature as ableist, patriarchal and male-oriented. Under such conditions, many disabled women face multiple oppressions on grounds of gender, disability, class, age, sexual orientation, ‘race’ and ethnicity. The social construction of the impaired body as passive and dependent is conducive to a process of desexualization, presenting disabled people as inadequate for a full intimate life. The dominant biomedical model reinforces this process. This article draws on selected works in feminist disability studies to argue that rather than a body which is unfit, or does not fit, the ‘misfit’ is instead a cultural failure in accommodating and cherishing diversity. The authors also suggest that the desexualization of disabled women is replicating, as well as resulting from, historical tendencies to dehumanize and infantilize women. The empirical data is drawn from a larger project ‘Disabled Intimacies? Sexual and Reproductive Citizenship of Disabled Women in Portugal’. Biographical narrative interviews with disabled women are analyzed to explore the notion of ‘misfit’ sexual bodies. Theirs are stories of counter-norms and the struggle for sexual fulfilment and recognition. The women’s discussions of sexuality point to a need to change the ways that disability and intimacy are addressed in mainstream scholarly literature, institutions and the state. Narrow, heteronormative and ableist understandings of sexual intercourse and the linear character of mainstream stories of intimacy are shown as hindering the prospect of the recognition of disabled women as sexual citizens.SAGE2018info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://hdl.handle.net/10316/47660http://hdl.handle.net/10316/47660https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460716688680eng1363-46071461-7382https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460716688680Santos, Ana CristinaSantos, Ana Lúciainfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2022-07-28T11:35:16Zoai:estudogeral.uc.pt:10316/47660Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T20:50:37.938687Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives
title Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives
spellingShingle Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives
Santos, Ana Cristina
Disability
Feminist disability studies
Portugal
Sexual citizenship
title_short Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives
title_full Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives
title_fullStr Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives
title_full_unstemmed Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives
title_sort Yes, we fuck! Challenging the misfit sexual body through disabled women’s narratives
author Santos, Ana Cristina
author_facet Santos, Ana Cristina
Santos, Ana Lúcia
author_role author
author2 Santos, Ana Lúcia
author2_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Santos, Ana Cristina
Santos, Ana Lúcia
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Disability
Feminist disability studies
Portugal
Sexual citizenship
topic Disability
Feminist disability studies
Portugal
Sexual citizenship
description Southern European society has been described in sociological literature as ableist, patriarchal and male-oriented. Under such conditions, many disabled women face multiple oppressions on grounds of gender, disability, class, age, sexual orientation, ‘race’ and ethnicity. The social construction of the impaired body as passive and dependent is conducive to a process of desexualization, presenting disabled people as inadequate for a full intimate life. The dominant biomedical model reinforces this process. This article draws on selected works in feminist disability studies to argue that rather than a body which is unfit, or does not fit, the ‘misfit’ is instead a cultural failure in accommodating and cherishing diversity. The authors also suggest that the desexualization of disabled women is replicating, as well as resulting from, historical tendencies to dehumanize and infantilize women. The empirical data is drawn from a larger project ‘Disabled Intimacies? Sexual and Reproductive Citizenship of Disabled Women in Portugal’. Biographical narrative interviews with disabled women are analyzed to explore the notion of ‘misfit’ sexual bodies. Theirs are stories of counter-norms and the struggle for sexual fulfilment and recognition. The women’s discussions of sexuality point to a need to change the ways that disability and intimacy are addressed in mainstream scholarly literature, institutions and the state. Narrow, heteronormative and ableist understandings of sexual intercourse and the linear character of mainstream stories of intimacy are shown as hindering the prospect of the recognition of disabled women as sexual citizens.
publishDate 2018
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http://hdl.handle.net/10316/47660
https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460716688680
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460716688680
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460716688680
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