Seksualność osób z niepełnosprawnością ruchową w sztuce filmowej czyli kilka refleksji o edukacyjnym potencjale popkultury
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Date
2013
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Publisher
Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM
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Sexuality of People with Physical Disabilities in Movies, or Several Thoughts on the Educational Potential of Pop Culture
Abstract
Dominated by stereotypes and myths, sexuality of disabled people is still a controversial issue. According to the
most popular myths people with disabilities are: asexual, hypersexual or “forever” children; they may also have
physiological problems during an intercourse. In fact, sexual problems of physically disabled people concern
biological/physiological and cultural/psycho-social difficulties. The time of the disability presenting itself has an
impact on the quality of one’s sexual life: people disabled form their birth in general experience more sexual problems
than those who acquired this medical condition during their lives. In the past, the discourse of disabled
people’s sexuality was physiologically orientated, whereas now it is dominated by psychological knowledge.
Sexual fantasies, the acceptance of one’s disabled body and its erotic potential are significant components of the
disabled people’s sexual satisfaction. Because of the “damaged” look, people with disabilities are rarely shown in
the media as their images corrupt the audiences’ aesthetic pleasure of using visual media. Showing disabled people
in terms of freak shows is only one category of the media (film) imagery classification; other types involve showing
the disabled people as: stigmatised, marked by death, invisible to the others, sad and suffering, victims of violence,
evildoers, their own enemies, objects of ridicule, and finally, flawless or normal people. The most appropriate way
of showing the disabled in movies includes a change of the disability perception: from an exclusive label to one of
many features. Only by using this attitude may the disabled be perceived more normally by the audience. The
message of a film is not only entertainment but also a display of social attitudes towards people with disabilities.
One of the widely commented movies presenting the image of disabled people’s sexuality is The Theory of Flight.
The movie transgresses the stereotype of asexuality and shows an important (yet still shocking) social issue in an
intelligible way. By showing sexual needs as universal and natural to all humans, the story normalizes the media
imagery of people with disabilities.
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Keywords
physical disability, sexuality, media imagery, feature movies
Citation
Studia Edukacyjne, nr 29, 2013, s. 285-304
Seria
ISBN
978-83-232-2738-0
ISSN
1233-6688