Hi I had attached the pdf and video lecture captions … I just want you to write on this question …. And pls cite The page number as well In this chapter, Alison Kafer writes, "I want to imagine a
Welcome back. I'm here on treaty one territory and the homeland.
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And today we'll be looking at the phenomenon of fetishization in relation to disability, specifically in the form of devoteeism.
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As much as the section's lecture video is focused on the week's content,
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And as Alison Kafer does in her chapter, reflecting on the whys behind our feelings and responses.
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The image that I've chosen to start us off with on our content slide is a photo of a multimedia installation by artist Mari Katayama.
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Katayama is a Japanese artist and photographer who was born with a condition called tibial hemimelia,
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which causes foreshortening and distortion of the lower limbs and a pronounced limb difference affecting her left hand.
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As a young person,
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she made the difficult decision to opt for amputation of portions of her legs to allow her to walk more freely with prosthetic legs.
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She frequently appears in her own works, where her unusual body challenges the viewer to think about body, representations and expectations.
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In this photo titled Shell, Katayama is seated with her amputations very visible and is surrounded by a variety of objects,
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textiles and backgrounds in a dreamy and surreal, washed out tone.
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Also within the photo are prosthetic legs and feet and other objects that suggest forms of body parts.
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In order to think in a nuanced and critical way about fetishization, we need to start with what the term fetish means.
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Well, what it means depends on whom you ask. In anthropology, a fetish is an object that's considered to be imbued with supernatural power,
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such as the object pictured on the upper right from Togo, made of dried gourds, fibers and other natural materials.
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It might be owned or tended to by a shaman or priest or healer, and is generally considered powerful,
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holy and even dangerous. In the realms of psychology and psychiatry,
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the term fetish has traditionally been applied to sexual attraction or arousal
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Well, that's kind of a problem because who decides what is or is not sexual?
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The Cambridge English Dictionary presents one definition: an object or a body part other than the sexual organs.
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They're not sexual organs as such. And what about legs, body shape, eyes?
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Smile? It's not usually considered a fetish to be aroused by these things.
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But what about, if not legs, but feet? Well, that one usually gets the fetish label.
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And what about arousal by legs, but only by legs that don't fit cultural ideals?
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What about legs that are fat or especially hairy or otherwise different in form or function than most people's,
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or partially or fully amputated or prosthetic?
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In thinking about fetishization, it's useful to think critically about what parts of the body and what varieties of those parts are widely
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considered appropriate to regard as objects of attraction and how these norms are culturally influenced.
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Among those who study fetishes, there's no universally accepted explanation as to why people develop them.
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Probably the most common explanation draws on Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic foundation,
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asserting that early life conditioning from specific experiences,
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especially at key moments of psychosexual development, manifest as fetishes during sexual maturity.
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Others have argued that fetishes stem from inborn neurological factors, that those with a fetish are, as it were,
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born this way. Today in mental health disciplines, fetishes may be referred to as paraphilias,
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which is a little more scientific sounding than its predecessor term sexual perversions.
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Over the course of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, there's been an increasing move to pathologize fetishes.
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That is, to shift away from viewing them through the lens of abnormalities that need treatment and towards viewing them as more benign variations.
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Kinks, if you like,
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provided that they don't cause harm to those who have them or to others. When they are linked to risk of physical or psychological harm,
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the psychiatric system labels them paraphilia disorders. As the very notion of
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disability assumes a normate body and mind against which people are evaluated,
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the designation of attraction to disabled bodies as a fetish also assumes that there are types of
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bodies that a quote-unquote normal person would be attracted to -- bodies that are acceptable to desire.
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We've already encountered this idea in some of our earlier materials, especially the Sins Invalid documentary. Within an ableist society,
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some bodies are generally not seen as appropriate to desire or as capable of being legitimately desired.
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To have such a body or to desire such a body is to mark one as deviant, as a freak,
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to use the language of one to Mat Fraser's performances.
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In the context of our course and our reading this week, it's desire for physically disabled bodies and especially amputee bodies,
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that's of interest to us, especially in the form of so-called devoteeism and selective attraction towards such bodies.
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Abasiophilia refers to attraction specifically towards those with mobility related disabilities,
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especially wheelchair users and those with leg braces, canes or other assistive devices.
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Remember ET Russian expressing concern over whether they were fetishizing the cane of a person to whom they were attracted?
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This is the phenomenon that they were referencing.
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Acrotomophilia refers to those with amputations or otherwise partially or fully missing limbs,
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acroto- means cut off,
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though this label also encompasses those who are aroused by congenital limb differences as well.
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Is it harmful to disabled people and amputees when others' selective arousal or attraction to their physical differences is given a pathological label?
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Or is this pathologization merited in certain cases?
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These can be difficult questions. The boundaries of what constitutes fetishization of disability are anything but clear.
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Putting aside for now the debate over what, if any, line exists between erotica and pornography,
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these categories of creative work contain bodies of writings, photography and films that specifically and explicitly involve disabled people.
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The two almost-randomly selected books from an Amazon search whose covers I've highlighted on
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the right are examples of this -- probably not future winners of the Booker Prize for literature,
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but erotica rarely aspires to be such.
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The first from a book titled Disabled Erotica Volume Three
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pictures a young female figure standing with crutches and leg braces, features blurred to obscure her identity.
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The second, called Disabled Desires Wicked Wheels, shows a male figure seated in a wheelchair turned away from the viewer with a downcast expression.
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Given the focus of our reading this week, it might be a little surprising to encounter a story in the second book here about a
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disabled man who is desired by an able bodied woman and which is written by a woman,
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too. Most self-identified devotees are men, but not all.
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But also, are written or visual sexual narratives that center disabled people and their disabilities inevitably fetishizing?
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Where is the line, if there is one,
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between what we might call a disability inclusive -- or keeping with the language of many of our readings -- a crip erotica or porn and a fetishizing one?
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another step yet, is fetishization itself, even always a negative or harmful thing?
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These are legitimately challenging questions which defy easy answers.
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Please take a moment and look at each of these photos.
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Each represents an image of a person who uses a wheelchair dressed or posed in a way that suggests a sexual context of some sort.
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Do you think that any or all of these photos are fetishizing?
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How would you explain to someone else what makes each of these photos fetishizing or not?
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There's no right or wrong answers here.
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But there is, I think, usefulness in reflecting on what determines fetishization versus crip desire or the like in these images.
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Does the pose matter? The perspective, the clothing, the facial expression, the body type, the gender,
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or whether or not we're familiar with the individual beyond the context of a single photo,
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being able to relate to them as multifaceted people? Some interesting points to reflect upon,
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and we'll return to them in Zoom meeting this week. The film work of Loree Erickson is an interesting example to consider.
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Erickson teaches at the University of Toronto's Sexual Diversity Studies Centre.
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She's the director and star of several porn films and a past winner at the Feminist Porn Awards based in Toronto.
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She's a disabled white woman originally from the U.S., but now living in Canada,
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pictured here in a bright pink and leopard print mini dress and seated in a wheelchair. She identifies herself as a femmegimp,
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another reclamation, like crip, of a disability oriented slur with a touch of queering, too.
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She's one of the key figures in establishing what she calls queercrip as a distinct genre of pornography.
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And she's also an acquaintance of mine. I know her from grad school.
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I'd love to show you her very short film, Sexxxy, but it's only available on DVD in our campus library, not online.
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So I'll describe it to you. In the film, which is only about 3 minutes long,
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which is being tuned up or fixed in a repair shop, interspersed with close ups of her face,
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especially her hot pink lipstick as she makes what I would term lustful expressions.
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The audio is a famous and controversial Cyndi Lauper song She Bop, which is supposedly about masturbation,
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along with some bits of half muffled audio of Erickson and the repairman speaking about repairing the chair.
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Does such a film, which depicts images of a wheelchair being -- and forgive me -- oiled and screwed,
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combined with glimpses of sexualized facial expressions and a sexy soundtrack constitute the fetishization of disability,
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specifically in the form of fetishizing a mobility device?
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Does it matter in this case that the disabled star of the film is also the filmmaker?
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Does it depend on who the viewer is or what their motivations are for viewing the film?
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Would it be different if the mechanic here were touching Erickson's flesh body rather than what is effectively her mechanical body?
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These categorizations can be hard to make.
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In the reading this week, the focus is placed in not only on disability in general, but primarily on amputees,
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specifically female amputees and the straight men who express desire for them. As a culture,
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do we think differently about amputation from other forms of disability in terms of the acceptability of sexual desirability?
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I've included two screenshots here of dating websites oriented towards dating people with disabilities and people with amputations respectively.
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When you look at them, do you have different responses to each? They're pretty similar in design and text.
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A light skinned woman and a light skinned man in each, language of finding love or finding your perfect match.
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And ambiguity over whether the intent is for disabled people and amputees to find other disabled and amputee folks.
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If you had a different first reaction to each -- or if you didn't,
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but you think others might -- give some thought to what might be behind these responses.
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The chapter we're reading this week is by Alison Kafer,
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who's an associate professor in feminist studies at the University of Texas, and she works primarily in disability studies.
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She's a queer white woman and is also an amputee herself.
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And her lived experience is at the heart of this chapter, which comes from her acclaimed 2013 book, Feminist Queer Crip.
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Including her affective or felt responses to attention from men who identify with this community,
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specifically seeking amputee women for sex or relationships.
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the logic of devoteeism, or the underlying way of conceiving of desire towards and desirability of amputees.
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Specifically, she argues, devotee men insist that they're the only ones who are genuinely attracted to women with amputations without any reservations,
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while insisting that all non-devotees feel disgusted by amputations.
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Kafer speaks of amputation sites as never neutral in devotees discourse.
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They're framed as always attractive to devotees and repulsive to others, and as the, quote,
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defining aesthetic factor in devotees' attraction, the place where the value of a potential partner lies.
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In this sense, Kafer argues, there is, quote, no position outside of the desire-disgust binary.
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These are the only two conceivable possibilities in relation to amputation sites in the mind of devotees,
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either their own desire towards amputation sites or everyone else's disgust.
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While this is a problematic perspective, it also has a certain power or pull that comes from its apparent plausibility.
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Society at large really does tend to treat amputations as something that disqualifies or at least detracts from potential romantic or sexual partners.
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And most amputee women have likely experienced something of this attitude expressed towards them.
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Beyond the underlying problem with this way of thinking about amputees,
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another set of less-abstract problems are presented by some of the attitudes and
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behaviors that devotee men have exhibited to Kafer and other amputee women.
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She encounters these men attributing self-hatred to women who reject them, claiming that they don't fully accept their own amputations.
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woman in an ableist world.
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And often identify women's insecurity with their own sexual attractiveness
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as amputee women's true problem, to which these men's love and devotion act as a solution,
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as the way for amputee women to achieve the greatest happiness and potential.
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Consistently, they represent amputee women's problems as individual level, largely attitudinal ones, and not as systemic structural ones.
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Some of the problematic behaviours Kafer identifies include secretly following amputee women and
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photographing them without their knowledge, and occasionally outright harassing them.
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Online communities allow devotees to share their photos and sightings or accounts of spotting amputees in public,
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sometimes with identifying details of time and place.
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Kafer even refers to one man who proposed setting up an online register of attractive amputees, including names and addresses without their consent.
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In some ways, the problems that such behavior presents for amputee women are ones that are familiar
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even to many non-disabled and non amputee women and femme presenting people.
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But the intensity of the targeting here, at least, seems distinctive.
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In an attempt to defend themselves,
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devotee men often frame their attention as harmless and flattering and believe themselves to be misunderstood by society,
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insisting that greater acceptance of devoteeism will lead to greater happiness for amputees.
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Who should, they maintain, be pleased to be the target of their desire.
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It's really not surprising that with this kind of sexist and heterocentric rhetoric and behavior,
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many amputee women find devotees to be at least an annoyance and at worst, a threat to their physical safety and psychological well-being.
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But this also leaves Kafer with questions about why, then, quite a few female amputees choose to participate in devotee communities.
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and exchanging or selling photos and videos of themselves, among other activities.
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Reflecting on this in light of her own experiences, challenges and observations,
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Kafer suggests that many amputee women find it meaningful to see images of others with similar bodies being presented as positive and desirable,
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something which, as we know, is rare in the culture at large.
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Many women seem to find support and community, especially connections with other amputee women, through these online sites,
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as well as information and resources about practical matters ranging from health care to shoe exchanges
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(where people with only one foot exchange footwear with others who have only the opposite foot).
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Kafer speculates on how amputee women in these communities may act as something of sexual role models,
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offering a rare opportunity for other female amputees to see and hear about engagement in sexual activities,
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the use of medical or mobility equipment as part of sex play,
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and examples of sexual self-acceptance. Partway through her chapter, Kafer also speaks directly to her non amputee readers.
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If you happen to be a non amputee, non-disabled and a non devotee,
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then she calls you to contemplate the reasons that these discussions may hold interest for you,
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and to think about how people with bodies and desires that are closer to the norm may derive pleasure and affirmation out of comparing themselves
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to amputees and devotees and experiencing their own body and their own desires as normative in contrast to the non-normative bodies and desires,
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respectively, of amputees and devotees.
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Now this experience will depend on what other identities a person has.
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Many other people who are not disabled, not amputees and not devotees, also have other types of socially stigmatized bodies or desires.
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But there's still a reaffirmation of ableist privilege and being reminded of one's
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status as outside of this particular dynamic and logic of disabled person and devotee.
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But what then is the way out of this pattern of thinking that underlies devotee logic,
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out of the belief that finding disability desirable in a partner is always pathological or abnormal in some way?
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Kafer looks for inspiration to the example of one fairly high profile relationship
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within the world of disability justice, that between Eli Clare and his partner,
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Samuel Lurie. The photo at right shows Clare and Lurie standing together in a partial embrace.
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Eli Clare, a white trans man with cerebral palsy, is a very well known disability
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writer, and activist Sam Lurie is also a white trans man who founded and runs an organization
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that trains clinicians and other service providers regarding trans people's needs.
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And Clare, for his part, has written about how the acceptance from Lurie of this distinct,
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usually stigmatized aspect of his physical and sexual interactions has profoundly
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impacted the ways that he understands and accepts his own body and sexuality,
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helping him to overcome a sense of shame about these tremors.
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prompts Kafer, for her part, to reflect on what this relationship has to teach us.
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to a relationship without reducing the desirability of a person to that particular quality.
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But also the ways their relationship is based on an understanding of how broader social,
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cultural, economic and political systems,
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structured as they are by ableism, impact sexuality, including desire, desirability and shame.
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Devotee
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logic, by contrast, relies on the belief that disability and bodily difference are inherently and inevitably repulsive to all but a select few.
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But disability justice points to the ways that ableist bias, including disgust towards amputations or other forms of disability,
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are constructed, and with collective effort can be dismantled to facilitate greater acceptance of
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disabilities and physical differences as gifts that can add value and enjoyment to a relationship,
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not as fetishized qualities to which desirability can be reduced.
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It's this idea of sexual possibilities that I'd like us to look at through this week's response.
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Here's the prompt to which I'd like you to respond in your writing.
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In this chapter, Alison Kafer writes: I want to imagine a sexuality that is rich and robust,
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not in spite of impairment and not fetishistically because of impairment, but in relationship to it.
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Thinking about the various individuals whose thoughts and lives we've encountered in our written audio and video sources in the course so far,
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identify two people whom you believe express views that fit well with Kafer's vision of sexuality,
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as presented here in her chapter. Relying on course sources,
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explain in your response how each person's writing, interview, performance and or other work offers such a perspective.
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Again, the rest of our week follows our usual pattern of a Zoom meeting and response submission, assessments, and feedback.
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We're going to be looking at a theoretical approach known as Crip Theory, which has become very important in disability studies in recent years,
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drawing on both queer theory and disability studies to offer a new analytical lens.
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The scholar who first named and wrote at length about Crip theory,
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American researcher Robert McRuer, has written quite a bit,
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rather than read a selection from one of his books or articles,
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we're going to watch a very short video on his work,
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and read an interview/discussion among McRuer and two Canadian scholars about Crip Theory and McRuer's work and Crip Theory perspectives.
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so please give yourself time to read it. The second reading that's part of the same section, by Swedish scholar Lotta Lofgren
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Martenson,
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performs a sort of bridging between Crip theory and the topic of intellectual disability,
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which we'll then continue with for the remainder of the course.
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If you're new to discussions around sexuality in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, this should be a particularly helpful reading.
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The argument that the author makes is a fairly nuanced one, however.
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So please do read it with care. I look forward to seeing you later in the week.
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And bye for now.
