The Melodrama of Virginity and Sex Drive: The Gendered Discourse of “the Sexual Oppression of Disabled People” and Its “Solutions”

Abstract

This essay investigates South Korean cultural representations of and public discourses about disabled people’s sexuality since the late 1990s. The gendered construction of their sexuality as a “problem” is analyzed to shed light on policy considerations. Close readings of a feature-length documentary film, Pink Palace (Seo 2005a); a short film, Papa (Lee 2004); and Kawai Kaori’s book Sex Volunteerism (2005) reveal the complex political and emotional dynamics of “sexual solutions.” Representations of the virginity of physically disabled men and the provision of sexual services whether by a legalized commercial sex trade or by volunteers, invoke melodrama. This affective excess also appears in Papa’s depiction of incestuous rape of a disabled woman as a way to satisfy her “sex drive.” In this restricted framework, “the sexuality of disabled people” is cast within the dichotomy of moral repression and sexual “crusade” supported by a naturalized biological understanding of sexuality. In discussing sexual opportunities for disabled people, careful attention must be paid to cultural, social, economic, and political aspects of diverse disabilities, genders, and the multiplicity of sexualities of disabled people, instead of simply gearing toward institutionalizing sexual “solutions.”