Sexual self-construction and subjectivities of disabled women in Thai society

Abstract

© Universiti Putra Malaysia Press This research aimed to explore how discourses and social practices influenced the sexual self and sexual life of disabled women in Thailand. Narrative interviews and participation observation methods were used to collect data from twelve women with physical disabilities and seven women with visual impairment. Findings revealed the discourses influencing disabled women’s sexual self were medical discourses as impairment and abnormal, religious discourses as sin from wrongdoing in a past life, and social welfare discourse as disadvantage and burden. While, gender and sexuality discourses regulated disabled women’s thoughts and actions in term of their sexuality. They were portrayed as asexual, inappropriate into sexual relationship, and undesirable girlfriend, wife or mother. The disabled women suppressed their sexual feeling, accepted their fate, and felt worthless. Regarding sexual life, they were overprotected by parents, lack an opportunity in intimate relationship, and proper sexual education. Some implications are encouraging family and people should be open-minded to learn from real life experiences of disabled women. Moreover, people in community should give opportunities to disabled women to express their needs, their voices, their potential, and accept them as humans with dignity and one of the citizens with equal rights.