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Women with Disabilities’ Perceptions of Sexuality, Sexual Abuse and Masturbation

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Abstract

In today’s society, sexuality is recognized as a determining factor in everyone’s wellbeing. As such, it is undeniable that people with physical disabilities have the same affective and sexual needs as everyone else. Nevertheless, people with disabilities face more obstacles that can impair their sex lives. For example, the significant lack of intimacy due to the need for help manipulating personal hygiene products and the behavior of people around them (e.g., overprotection and desexualization) may make them more vulnerable to sexual abuse. Very little scientific and professional documentation or survey data documents their sex lives, and particularly the benefits of masturbation. The purpose of this article is to document the sexual experiences of women with disabilities, the sexual abuse they may suffer and the benefits of masturbation. To do so, a qualitative methodology was used, with eight participants with physical disabilities aged 18 years and over in semi-structured individual interviews. The results of these interviews show, among other things, that masturbation enabled participants to reconcile themselves to earlier negative experiences (e.g., sexual abuse) and to promote their sexual autonomy. Finally, a series of solutions must be applied to facilitate masturbation and protect these women from sexual violence (e.g., prevention programs in educational and hospital settings, better manuals, and training).

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Notes

  1. The main objective of the GSS is “to better understand how Canadians perceive crime and the justice system and to capture information on their experiences of victimization.” It is “the only national survey of self-reported victimization and is collected in all provinces and territories. The survey allows for estimates of the numbers and characteristics of victims and criminal incidents.”

  2. All quotations from participants are translated from the original French.

  3. ASAP: A Safety Awareness Program for Women with Diverse Disabilities.

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Acknowledgments

This research project was carried out thanks to funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Société et Culture granting program for “innovative projects.” The research team would also like to thank all of the participants who gave their time to answer questions during the interviews. The principal investigator would like to thank his colleagues for their expertise, support and suggestions during the study, particularily David Gotti for his enthusiastic work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de réadaptation, Faculté de Médecine, Université Laval, 1050 avenue de la Médecine, Quebec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Ernesto Morales

  2. Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Réadaptation et Intégration Sociale (CIRRIS), 525 Boulevard Wilfrid-Hamel, Quebec City, QC, G1M 2S8, Canada

    Ernesto Morales, Véronique Gauthier & Geoffrey Edwards

  3. Département des sciences géomatiques, Faculté de foresterie et géomatique, Université Laval, 2405 rue de la Terrasse, Quebec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Geoffrey Edwards

  4. Département de sexologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, 455 René-Levesque East, Montreal, QC, H2L 4Y2, Canada

    Frédérique Courtois

  5. Institut de réadaptation Gingras-Lindsay-de-Montréal, 6300 Darlington Avenue, Montreal, QC, H3S 2J4, Canada

    Frédérique Courtois

Authors
  1. Ernesto Morales
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  2. Véronique Gauthier
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  3. Geoffrey Edwards
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  4. Frédérique Courtois
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ernesto Morales.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional. To ensure ethical conduct, the study was submitted to and approved by the Institut de réadaptation en déficience physique de Québec IRDPQ’s research ethics committee. Participants’ names and dates of birth appear only on the consent form. All other information is in a separate database, identified by a participant code and kept locked up in a safe place.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this pilot study.

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Morales, E., Gauthier, V., Edwards, G. et al. Women with Disabilities’ Perceptions of Sexuality, Sexual Abuse and Masturbation. Sex Disabil 34, 303–314 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-016-9440-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-016-9440-1

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