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Welcome back. I'm here in Winnipeg on treaty one territory and the Metis homeland.
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And in this section, we're looking at the challenges many disabled people face in accessing sex,
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including sexual and romantic relationships, casual sex and sensual encounters and personal stimulation and pleasure.
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Much of the value of the materials this week lies in reading and hearing about the
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various experiences described by the people who were interviewed by the authors,
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including disabled people and those who provide various sorts of sexual services to members of the disabled community.
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The image on the right of the slide is an illustration by Dadu Shin, a New York based disabled Asian-American artist.
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This colorful work accompanied a 2016 New York Times story by the extremely influential feminist disability studies scholar Rosemarie Garland Thomson.
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Part of a series featuring articles by disabled writers. Shin has identified loneliness as a recurring theme in his illustration work.
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And I thought that this would fit well with the material this week,
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as loneliness is certainly among the factors motivating people to seek sexual encounters and relationships.
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Because of the wide variety of forms that disability takes,
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disabled individuals may have vastly differing experiences with the accessibility of sexual relationships or even one-off sexual encounters.
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able to find partners and express themselves sexually with another person with at least some degree of success,
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perhaps like the couple in the photo on the right, enjoying the view together.
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But this, of course, is not the experience of everyone. Even some abled people have trouble finding sexual or romantic partners.
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And this can be an even greater struggle for many disabled people who may experience not only physical or communicative barriers,
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but also the social stigma of things like lack of or underemployment,
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For those whose disability impacts their physical appearance in a significant way, the effects of looksism can also intersect with ableism.
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As well, those who have significant mental health issues, who have a psychiatric history or who identify as Mad
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may encounter a variety of additional barriers to finding and sustaining relationships.
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So may people on the autism spectrum.
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People who are autistic or otherwise neurodivergent often find that social
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norms interfere with acceptance by or communication with potential partners.
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In the last weeks of the course, when we look at intellectual disability in a more focused way,
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we'll also encounter this theme of exclusion quite prominently.
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For those who take a disability justice approach, the emphasis is usually placed upon the ways that ableism acts as a barrier to sexual access.
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Access to sex, whether to specific sexual activities or to ongoing relationships,
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is a difficult issue because it's different than the sorts of disability rights that are usually involved in areas like education or employment.
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A school or workplace may have a legal duty to accommodate a disabled person's needs,
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but you can't legally or ethically have a system in which people have a duty to have sexual relations with someone they don't want to,
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even if their reason is nothing more than disablist bias.
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So we need to think about rights and justice in other, more nuanced ways when thinking about sexual access.
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In the chapter by Kulick and Rydstrom that we're reading this week,
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the authors point out that even within disabled communities,
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there's very often what they refer to as a hierarchy of desirability, in which people with certain sorts of
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disabilities are seen as more desirable or less desirable partners
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then those who are disabled in other ways. Within this hierarchy, those who have no disabilities or non-obvious ones are at the top.
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Those who have physical or sensory differences are lower down.
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More significant mobility issues even further down.
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And those with pronounced intellectual disabilities, especially when paired with challenges in communicating, at the bottom.
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This is a general pattern, of course.
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It doesn't reflect every disabled individual's experience, and we can't ignore how other factors like conventional attractiveness,
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size, build, weight, age, race, education, socioeconomic status and so on are also relevant here.
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Most disabled people are influenced by societal norms about attractiveness and partner value, just as abled people are.
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having a less disabled partner also offers opportunities for social respect and acceptance
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that having a disabled partner may not, or may not to the same extent. As Kulick and Rydstrom
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explore, disabled people give a variety of reasons for why they may prefer abled partners or those who are also disabled,
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but with disabilities that they perceive to be less limiting than their own.
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In these explanations,
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we can see examples of how ableism doesn't just impact disabled people's access to relationships through direct attitudinal bias,
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but also through the ableism that's embedded in structures and institutions.
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For example, the blind person who fears greater isolation if they partner with another blind person,
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because then they will both be excluded from some opportunities and activities.
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Or the wheelchair user who wants an able-bodied partner who can more easily navigate
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the world or take care of a child when necessary
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family, community or professional support is lacking, as it so often is for disabled parents.
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A disability
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justice approach doesn't assume that there will ever necessarily be a time in which all persons will be seen as equally desirable partners,
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but recognizes that if ableism was less entrenched in the form of attitudes,
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structures and practices,
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there would be greater possibilities for acceptance and access to sex relationships and other forms of physical and social connection.
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Are societal attitudes changing about the idea of sex with a disabled partner?
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There's some evidence that they may be.
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The Observer is a UK based newspaper which conducts, via a research company, periodic public surveys in Britain on sex and sexuality,
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using methods that offer a reasonably fair look at what people think and do sexually,
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In their last large scale survey carried out in 2014, they asked, Have you ever had sex with someone with a physical disability?
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To which 7% of respondents answered yes, 50% no, but they wouldn't rule it out and 44% no,
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and they thought that they would not.
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Now, those figures may not be particularly heartening for a physically disabled person in the UK who's looking for a sexual partner.
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However, it is an improvement on the results of the Observer's previous poll in 2008,
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in which only 4% replied that they had had sex with someone with a physical disability.
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26% said that they wouldn't rule it out, and a whopping 70% said they didn't think that they would ever have sex with a disabled person.
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It's hard to say to what extent this reflects a genuine shift in public opinion in Britain,
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but it is a fairly significant swing in numbers. It's interesting to contemplate just what might be responsible for this change.
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One of the unavoidable issues when sexual access is discussed is that of paid sex work.
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Attitudes towards disabled people accessing paid sex vary widely.
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As we see in the examples provided at the outset of Kulick and Rydstrom's chapter,
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the positive and supportive public response to Danish mother Lone Hertz's statement that she had
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purchased sexual services for her disabled son,
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Feminist scholarship and activism has a difficult history with sex work. For quite some time
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feminist thought was dominated by those who took a strong stance against what they would term prostitution,
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claiming that it's inherently exploitative and perpetuates the inequality and objectification of women.
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Increasingly, though, the feminist mainstream,
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especially among those feminists who identify as intersectional and sex positive in their approach,
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has moved towards what's sometimes called a sex work inclusive or pro sex work stance, like that represented by the marchers at right,
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holding a banner that reads Decriminalize Sex Work, Safety First.
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This is a perspective that regards those who offer sexual services in exchange for money to be simply another type of worker,
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arguing that we all use our bodies in some way in our work,
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In the readings this week, we see examples of how national attitudes and laws reflect different positions on the spectrum of acceptance of sex work.
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But selling them is not criminalized. The intent behind this approach is to reduce paid sexual exchange by punishing the
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buyers, who are primarily men, and providing opportunities for sex workers themselves,
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who are predominantly women in most places,
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Of course, while there are certainly some sex workers who would like to do this,
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there are also others who have chosen sex work over other forms of work and are concerned
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about attempts to restrict or regulate the practice in ways that may put them at risk.
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Denmark's model takes decriminalization further than Sweden.
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In Denmark, it's not a crime to sell or to purchase sexual services,
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and the country only criminalizes third parties like pimps or brothel owners who profit off other people's sex work.
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where sex workers are placed in more danger because they have less control over their
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working conditions and their transactions with clients have less transparency.
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In Canada, as of legal changes in 2014, we have a model that looks more like the Swedish than the Danish approach, but with some additional complexity.
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For example, it's legal to 'sell sex' but illegal to advertise sexual services.
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It's also illegal to operate a brothel or in legal speak, a bawdyhouse, which has been a major concern for many sex workers.
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security is generally considered much safer than working on the street, or out of one's own home,
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known as in-calls, or going to others homes or hotels, known as out-calls.
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There are also a variety of other approaches to the legislation of sex work worldwide.
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In Aotearoa (New Zealand), for instance, it's nearly completely decriminalized, whereas in Germany it's highly bureaucratically regulated.
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The Netherlands, meanwhile, are known not just for their social and legal tolerance of sex work,
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but for the fact that disabled people may even apply to the government for a modest allowance to purchase sexual services.
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One concern that advocates of various perspective share is one that we also
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encounter in Kulick and Rydstrom's chapter over preventing sex trafficking.
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However, in practice, laws that target voluntary and consensual sex work tend not to be very effective at stopping sex trafficking.
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workers and what Kulick and Rydstrom refer to as sexual surrogates, who use sex and what they identify as therapeutic ways,
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whether with disabled clients specifically or more broadly.
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After looking carefully at the literature and data,
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the authors don't find much evidence that sexual surrogacy is actually very widely practiced,
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though there are small numbers of people who self-identify as sexual surrogates or use similar labels.
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places in the world where there are special sets of laws and regulations that
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apply to anyone claiming that their clients pay specifically for therapeutic sex.
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The authors also point to the ways this sex surrogate designation can be problematic,
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altruistic form than that of other sex workers and establishing a hierarchy of moral status,
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one that tends to further marginalize already marginalized sex workers,
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especially the large numbers of racialized sex workers who often already struggle to survive and
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remain safe in an environment where people of color are devalued and targeted for violence.
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seeing it as promoting the idea that sex with a disabled person is so unappealing that not only do disabled people need sex workers,
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they need special sex workers.
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In the chapter, we also encounter examples of organizations that may or may not provide actual sexual services for disabled people.
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In Denmark, there's Handisex.
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This is the organization that Eva describes hiring to help her set up a sex toy for masturbation and then to help her tidy up afterwards.
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This organization offers education and this kind of more tangible support,
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but its workers don't engage in sexual activities as such with their clients.
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We're also introduced briefly in this chapter to an organization called Touching Base,
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located in Australia,
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So we know that there's a demand from disabled people around the world for access to various types of sexual support and services,
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depending on their needs and comfort levels.
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Let's briefly look more closely at a few points within Kulick and Rydstrom's chapter, Paying for Sexual Services.
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Don Kulick is a professor of anthropology in Sweden at Uppsala University.
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His coauthor, Jens Rydstrum, teaches gender studies at Lund University, also in Sweden.
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They're both middle aged white men pictured on the upper right.
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The chapter is taken from their 2015 book, Loneliness and Its Opposite -- Sex, Disability and the Ethics of Engagement,
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in which they focus on the contrasts between sexual circumstances and services for disabled people in Sweden and in Denmark,
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and find a pattern of barriers, legal and otherwise, to sex for those in Sweden and comparatively greater access and support for those in Denmark.
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One of the things the authors consider in this chapter is why disabled people may choose to purchase sexual services.
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If you like, you can pause and have a look at pages 207 to 212 where they identify and discuss these reasons.
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Kulick and Rydstrom emphasize that the majority of disabled people do not access paid sex. But for those who do,
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their reasoning may include suffering, distress, shame and embarrassment over a lack of sexual experience compared to their peers.
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They may be seeking to increase their self-confidence, their knowledge of sex,
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or their understanding and acceptance of their own bodies and sexual capabilities.
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Some express a desire to be loved and accepted and see these services as at least a first step towards achieving this end with others in the future.
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And for some people, they believe that this is their only realistic opportunity to actually have sex, to enjoy sensual pleasure and satisfaction.
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Because of this range of goals, different sorts of sexual services may meet some people's needs better than others.
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For instance, for some, an encounter with a quote unquote mainstream sex worker might be considered sufficient to bring sexual release.
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For others, the education and guidance offered by a worker who has experience working with others with similar disabilities might be more important.
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Some are seeking sexual intercourse. Some are interested in other sorts of sexual or sensual acts or touching.
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And others, like Eva, need assistance in engaging in self pleasuring.
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The Danish social workers, known as sexual advisors in the English translation, are an interesting type of sexually oriented support worker.
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That's the organization's logo on the bottom right, with a pair of colorful, cleverly joined figures.
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They are paid professionals who don't participate in sexual activities with clients.
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Their motto is, sexuality regardless of disability.
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Sexual advisors work primarily with those who live in group settings,
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and they perform a variety of tasks, from helping disabled people to clarify or express their own sexual wishes,
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guiding them in understanding prices and specific services, or otherwise
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helping to get their clients prepared for a sexual encounter or a masturbation session.
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But they don't perform sexual acts with their clients.
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The authors interviewed a number of these advisors at length for their work,
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and the advisors discuss some of the specific dilemmas they face in practice,
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such as determining the sexual wishes of clients who do not use oral language or
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steering their clients away from sex workers who may be sex trafficking victims.
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In the latter case, they may do this by refusing to arrange appointments with non Danish sex workers.
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This is a less than perfect solution, though, given that migrants are not the only people trafficked.
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recent research has found that the majority of people who are victims of sex trafficking here are Canadian citizens.
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authors' research with sex workers about their attitudes towards disabled clients.
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What they find is that most prefer not to work with disabled clients, and many will outright refuse.
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The reasons these workers provide vary widely,
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from some feeling discomfort with bodies or minds that diverge from normate ones, to others
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believing the physical or emotional expectations of such clients may be too high,
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and some expressing concern about unintentionally causing pain, offence or transgressing personal boundaries.
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All of these are perhaps unsurprising,
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though all are also influenced by ableist assumptions and misleading popular representations of disabled people.
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While some sex workers accept disabled clients, the authors find none in Denmark
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who specialize exclusively in offering their services to them, with the very low financial resources of most disabled people being a major barrier.
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Interestingly, one of the workers they interviewed also mentioned that personally they disliked the idea
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of being thought of as self-sacrificing and benevolent for having disabled clients,
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stating, quote, I'm a businesswoman and I do this.
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It's a job to support myself. I am not a charitable institution.
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the experiences that these sex workers reported with disabled clients were positive,
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respectful interactions with some becoming committed regulars,
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and also sometimes surprising and amusing, as when a client unexpectedly removed a prosthetic limb.
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For their part,
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disabled clients reported varied experiences with sex workers from satisfying and considerate encounters to being outright cheated or insulted.
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Experiences that could obviously be quite traumatizing for a person who had already experienced considerable sexual exclusion or rejection.
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Moving to thinking about the Canadian context through CBC reporter Pia Chattopadhyay's story --
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-- that's her in the orange coat in the upper right -- we see that as far as sex work laws are concerned,
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there is no distinction made here between abled and disabled clients.
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And so anyone claiming to offer therapeutic sexual encounters and anyone paying
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for them would be treated just as they would in any other paid sex situation.
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Legal for the sellers. Illegal for the buyers, with advertising these services
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also forbidden.
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Disabled individuals or their partners in Canada who are seeking sexual support have a few options available to them.
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The indisputably legal ones include people who specialize in providing counseling or education in sexual matters without sexual contact with clients.
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This would include sex therapists, sexologists and sex educators.
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A small number of whom do specialize in helping disabled people.
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In the CBC article we're introduced to one such organization, Sensual Solutions,
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based in Vancouver, B.C., where employees are referred to as intimacy coaches.
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The range of services that they offer include many of those that a sexual advisor might offer in the Danish context,
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but also ones that are much more sexually engaged, including massage and cuddling.
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Though their website states that they do not sell sexual services.
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There is also a lot of vague language.
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would potentially make their clients legally vulnerable to charges for purchasing sex.
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This puts people like Spencer Williams, interviewed in the article and the audio piece about his own use of the services of
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Sensual Solutions in a difficult and legally vulnerable position.
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For your response this week,
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given what you've learned from this week's material about the challenges that some disabled people face in accessing sexual pleasure,
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please identify and briefly discuss three measures that you believe would enhance disabled people's sexual access here in Canada.
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Describe why and how you believe these should and could be implemented.
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Please draw meaningful connections with the course materials.
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These measures could include legal changes, government support, community initiatives, educational resources,
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professional roles, or any other things that might make sex or pleasure or sexual exploration or relationships more accessible.
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Please cite relevant course materials using parenthetical citations to support your response.
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Outside sources and bibliographic entries aren't needed for this activity.
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This week, we have our usual Zoom meeting on Thursday and you have your cycle of creation, evaluation and feedback for the responses.
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The Week 7 section is another that I think is really interesting and thought provoking.
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We'll be looking at the fetishization of disability. The reading that I've selected does a great job of looking into this issue beyond the surface.
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The author is Alison Kafer, a white woman with curly red hair pictured on the right,
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seated at the front of a classroom or lecture hall in a wheelchair.
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She's a feminist professor at the University of Texas, and her work has rapidly become very popular among disability scholars.
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In this chapter, she combines research with her personal reflections on her own experiences and feelings as an amputee woman.
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I hope you enjoy it, and I'll see you on Thursday.
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Bye for now.
