Critical research and policy debates in disability and sexuality studies

Abstract

For many years, sexuality has been a peripheral issue in the struggle for the rights of disabled people, both within the sexual rights movement and in academia. Today, however, this intersection of disability and sexuality is emerging as an important social justice concern—a concern that is central to the inclusion of disabled people in postmodern societies. The unprecedented international conference held at San Francisco State University in June 2000, titled Disability, Sexuality, and Culture: Societal and Experiential Perspectives on Multiple Identities, was a watershed event out of which crystallized a sense of common purpose. This conference had a profound impact on all those who attended, and much subsequent work has been influenced by the convergence of the many issues and ideas that were raised there. The First International Conference on Queerness & Disability, held at San Francisco State University in 2002, was also important in mapping out some key queer and sexual minority concerns within the field of disability and sexuality studies. Edited books and special issues of journals engaging critical multidisciplinary scholarship on disability and sexuality are becoming more common (McRuer & Mollow, in press; McRuer & Wilkerson, 2003; Mona & Shuttleworth, 2000, 2002; Shuttleworth & Mona, 2000). The issue of disability and sexuality is finally moving into the foreground of concerns within both activist and academic circles. This special issue of Sexuality Research and Social Policy: Journal of NSRC highlights some of the present research trends in this vital area and discusses several social policy concerns. The idea for the special issue emerged from the fifth biennial IASSCS (International Association for the Study of Sexuality and Culture in Society) Conference, titled Sexual Rights and Moral Panics, held in 2005 at San Francisco State University. Some extraordinary papers on disability and sexuality were presented at that conference, three of which are included in this special issue. These articles vary methodologically, with Fraley, Mona, and Theodore (2007) discussing clinical experiences in their article, “The Sexual Lives of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People With Disabilities: Psychological Perspectives”; Abbott and Burns (2007) reporting on substantive data from qualitative research in their article, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?: Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People With Intellectual Disabilities in the United Kingdom and Views of the Staff Who Support Them”; and Dawn Reynolds (2007) presenting a case study in her article, “Disability and BDSM: Bob Flanagan and the Case for Sexual Rights.” All three articles offer important suggestions for social policy in their respective areas. The last article, by Margrit Shildrick (2007), “Contested Pleasures: The Sociopolitical Economy of Disability and Sexuality,” takes an expansive and critical view of the field from the perspective of cultural theory. One hopes that these articles will contribute to the goal of increasing the visibility of disability and sexuality as an academic concern and a social justice issue with policy implications. Before introducing the individual articles, this introduction will provide a broad framework for understanding some of the impetus for the recent emergence of disability and sexuality as a cause celebre by briefly outlining some past and present trends in disability and sexuality