Alan Martino: Being Kept Out of Sexual Fields: The Intimate Lives of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities in Ontario, Canada

• In-person event

Abstract:

The intersection of disability and sexuality remains a taboo topic. Along with this taboo, people with intellectual disabilities are rarely afforded the opportunity to share their experiences and desires when it comes to their intimate lives. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 46 adults with intellectual disabilities in Ontario, and using a sexual fields framework, this research explores how people with intellectual disabilities are kept out of sexual fields – spaces that bring together sexual actors in their pursuit for love, intimacy, and pleasure – through a series of disabling social processes. Processes that impact their willingness and ability to auspiciously “play the field,” but that also inspire forms of resistance and creative strategies to remain sexual.

Biographical Note: Dr. Alan Martino is an Instructor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at Carleton University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology at McMaster University. His main research interests include gender, sexualities, disability, as well as their intersections. He is a community-based, qualitative research methods researcher, often using participatory and inclusive approaches. His dissertation looked at the romantic and sexual experiences of 46 adults with intellectual disabilities in Ontario, Canada. His work has been published in journals, including Disability Studies Quarterly, Canadian Disability Studies Journal, and Forum: Qualitative Social Research, and edited volumes focused on disability and/or sexualities studies. He is current co-lead for the Sociology of Disability Research Cluster at the Canadian Sociological Association, as well as the co-lead for the emerging Virtual Disability and Intimate Citizenship Research Hub.