Disability and the Male Sex Right

Access to prostituted women is increasingly justified by disability charities and services on the grounds of the sexual rights of the disabled. In Australia, for example, disabled men form a niche market for the legalised prostitution industry. Male sexuality is constructed out of male dominance and is likely to manifest the eroticisation of hierarchy and the idea that males should have the sexual right to access the female body. This model of sexuality poses problems for all women in the form of sexual harassment and violence, pornography and prostitution. It poses particular problems for women with disabilities who are more vulnerable to sexual assault and harassment from carers and disability fetishists. The sexual rights idea does not generally take gender into account. Thus sexual rights for men with disabilities can include the right to pay for or demand sexual servicing from women in prostitution, nursing or caring work. This article seeks to disaggregate the notion of sexual rights according to gender.