Disability, Sex Radicalism, and Political Agency

This paper uses queer and disability perspectives to argue that sexual agency is central to political agency, and that a group's experience of sexually-based harms and constraints on sexual agency should be recognized as a hallmark of oppression. It explores the political implications of erotophobia as it affects oppressed groups, the role of sexual shame in oppression based on sexuality and gender, and medical constructions of the sexuality of people with disabilities and others. The use of counter-discourses and coalition politics is proposed as one strategy for overcoming the corrosive effects of erotophobia on oppressed groups and their sexual/political agency.