Desiring Disability? Problematizing Devoteeism and the Undesirability of Disabled Bodies Through the Lens of Amputees

Abstract

Several studies argue that disabled people are trapped between being only desired in spite of impairment/disability or, alternatively, precisely because of it. In the latter case, disabled bodies are fetishized by ‘devotees’. The aims of this paper are (1) to theoretically examine how desire for impaired and disabled bodies and specifically devoteeism are conceptually constructed at the intersection of ableism and heterosexism and (2) to empirically explore how amputees experience and conceptualize their bodies as objects of sexual desire, the role of consent and how this relates to (or resists) the devotee narrative. To do that, we draw on a qualitative interview-based study on the differences between six heterosexual men and women with amputations. The findings are divided into three themes: (1) Consent as a rhetorical device that condones devoteeism in an abstract way that does not necessarily problematize the undesirability of disability. (2) The intersection between gender and dis/ability regarding gendered understandings of ‘the devotee’. (3) Cripping desire and gender roles beyond devoteeism. In conclusion, devoteeism can be understood as a codification of desire that is simultaneously a product of ableism and heterosexism, and individuals with impairments ‘crip’ these oppressive systems by expanding desire beyond devoteeism.