Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Disability, discourse and desire
T2 - analyzing online talk by people with disabilities
AU - Hall, Matthew
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - Fran Vicary, who has had cerebral palsy from birth, recently claimed (The Guardian, February 20, 2014) most people with a disability seek to express themselves sexually. Arguing from personal experience, she said the expression of sexual desire is a much contested space for those with disabilities because their sexualities and bodies are controlled by broader public discourses that delegitimise and stigmatise their sexual agency and the possibility of pleasure. It isn’t surprising then that positive and empowering discourses of disability and sexuality are either invisible or missing (Shildrick, 2007; Tepper, 2000). Drawing on discourse analysis (Potter, 1996) I examine electronic talk by people with disabilities in a disability specific online community website. My analysis shows their rejection of mainstream discourses positioning them as asexual and the deployment of mainstream discourses, which draw on gender, sexuality and intimacy, as well as the circulation of disability-specific sexual pleasure discourses with sex workers and caregivers. The use of social media in expressing marginalised sexual identities is also discussed.
AB - Fran Vicary, who has had cerebral palsy from birth, recently claimed (The Guardian, February 20, 2014) most people with a disability seek to express themselves sexually. Arguing from personal experience, she said the expression of sexual desire is a much contested space for those with disabilities because their sexualities and bodies are controlled by broader public discourses that delegitimise and stigmatise their sexual agency and the possibility of pleasure. It isn’t surprising then that positive and empowering discourses of disability and sexuality are either invisible or missing (Shildrick, 2007; Tepper, 2000). Drawing on discourse analysis (Potter, 1996) I examine electronic talk by people with disabilities in a disability specific online community website. My analysis shows their rejection of mainstream discourses positioning them as asexual and the deployment of mainstream discourses, which draw on gender, sexuality and intimacy, as well as the circulation of disability-specific sexual pleasure discourses with sex workers and caregivers. The use of social media in expressing marginalised sexual identities is also discussed.
KW - disability
KW - discourse analysis
KW - sexual desires
KW - sexual preferences
KW - social media
U2 - 10.1177/1363460716688675
DO - 10.1177/1363460716688675
M3 - Journal article
VL - 21
SP - 379
EP - 392
JO - Sexualities
JF - Sexualities
SN - 1363-4607
IS - 3
ER -