Illness comes to bed. Chronically ill lesbian women discuss sex, intimacy, and sexual practices

Abstract

This article aims at discussing the intersections of disability and sexuality as narrated by lesbian women with chronic illness. It draws from an empirical study conducted in Portugal and Italy between 2016 and 2018 with LGBTQA + chronically ill people: in particular, the article focuses on fifteen biographical interviews collected among participants that self-identify as lesbian. The interviews highlight intersections of sexuality through the experience of chronic illness, showing different strategies through which lesbian women re-invent their own self-definition and their sexual practices in intimate encounters with partners. The first part discusses the contributions of feminist disability studies and crip studies in the understanding of the entanglements between able-bodiedness and heteronormativity. In the second section, the analysis focuses on narratives around dating: in particular, it explores the difficulties reported by participants in coming out as chronically ill to their sexual partners. In the third section, the paper discusses desires and sexual practices: since illness influences the way desires are embodied and negotiated, participants find ways to face their vulnerabilities and establish self-caring sexual encounters. The last section addresses the importance of communication in this process, enabling forms of transformative actions and resilience through sexual practices. The article aims at contributing to the existing literature on disability and sexuality, shedding light on the specific aspects of the experience narrated by lesbian women with chronic illness: such aspects challenge normative assumptions over the entanglements between disability and sexuality and question some of the pillars on which disability is constructed.