NCJ Number
201439
Date Published
2001
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the various visual media that both sexualize and ridicule those women and girls whose health and relative immobility make them especially vulnerable to sexual abuse, with a focus on pornography that features disabled women and girls.
Abstract
In addition to the periodic pornographic portrayals of immobile and disabled women in mainstream sexually-oriented magazines such as "Playboy," "Penthouse," and "Hustler," there is a pornography genre that deals exclusively with women and girls with disabilities. The most popular disability pornography is often amputee pornography, because this particular disability is one of the most visible. The market for such pornography consists primarily of men whom sexologists refer to as "acrotomophiles," who are erotically excited by the stump or stumps of the amputee partner and are dependent on them for erotic arousal and the facilitation or attainment of orgasm. Some of this pornography touts the pleasures to be derived from raping disabled women and disfiguring others. Disability pornography also provides its audience with tips on where to meet disabled women, thus making such women vulnerable to predators in places where they would expect to find support, such as rehabilitation centers, hospitals, and orthopedic supply stores. Data that pertain to the sexual abuse and assault of the disabled have found that 44 percent of the perpetrators were paid service providers who committed their crimes in disability service settings. Pornography in general features female sexual subordination and expendability. Disability pornography takes this theme to the extreme, thus placing disabled women at particular risk for sexual abuse and violence. 16 notes and 56 references