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Sins Invalid: An Unashamed Look At Sex, Beauty & Disability

Thu, 10/01/2009 - 07:46
Submitted by Carlin Ross

I can't wait until we roll out our Sex & Disability section here on the site (we have to get skyping, Marylou).  I'm reposting here David Steinberg's piece on Sins Invalid a multi-media presentation being performed this week at the Brava Theatre in San Francisco:

Who is sexy? Who is sexual? Who is sexually desirable? Who is sexually vibrant?

Are the people that society designates "beautiful" really sexier or more sexual than the people who get labeled "plain"?

What about older people, heavier people? What about people with disabilities? Are these people fully sexual human beings even though they don't show up in movies, on tv, or in advertising? What happens to all of us when we write off huge sections of the population as non-sexual or sexually undesirable?

These are some of the questions addressed in Sins Invalid: An Unashamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility, whose fourth annual multi-media presentation is being performed this coming weekend at the Brava Theater.

Most specifically, Sins Invalid is about the sexuality of people with physical disabilities -- an opportunity for people with disabilities to affirm and celebrate the vibrancy of their sexuality through performance art, theater, film, dance, song, and the spoken word. The cabaret-style performances in Sins Invalid range from mild to graphic, from tender to passionate, from the gentle spoken word to a sexually explicit depiction of a scene involving loving dominance and submission.

"The theme of this year's show is the magic of embodiment," says Patty Berne, artistic director of Sins Invalid, "the magic of all life and the spirit incarnate." The 12 artists in Sins Invalid all possess disabilities, some quite apparent, others less so, such as deafness and environmental illness and injuries. "Each of these artists is in a non-normative body," Berne notes, "and each is a miraculous, sexual being."

Sins Invalid was founded in 2006 by Patty Berne and Leroy Moore, two Bay Area activists with disabilities who were frustrated with the propensity of many to view people with disabilities as asexual, deviant, or undesirable. "We wanted to address the disconnect between what we know to be true about our beauty and what the world seems to believe -- that we are 'less than,' undesirable and pitiable," Berne explains.
Frank and Linda

But Sins Invalid is more than a statement about sex and disability, going beyond the specific issue of discounting the sexuality of people with disabilities to challenge a whole range of conventional notions about what is normal, what is beautiful, and what is sexy. In place of the familiar notion that sex, beauty and desirability are limited to people who are young, thin, and physically agile, Sins Invalid offers "a vision of beauty and sexuality inclusive of all individuals and communities," an affirmation that we are all sexual, all sexy, all attractive, regardless of age, body form, or skin color.

What makes Sins Invalid so powerful is that it thoroughly succeeds artistically and erotically, separate from the impact of its political message. Sins Invalid challenges its audience to think about sexuality, beauty, and disability in new and expanded ways. But Sins Invalid is also, quite simply, a hot, arousing, sexually charged evening of thought-provoking, imaginative sexual entertainment that only happens to be entirely by and about people with disabilities.
Pleasure and Jacob

Mat Fraser, a celebrated disabled performer from Great Britain offers "No Retreat, No Surrender," an athletic performance piece using martial arts, and "Beautiful Freak," a tender cleansing ritual. Antoine-DeVinci Hunter, an accomplished deaf choreographer/dancer, asks the audience to share the element of risk he faces every day as a deaf person by rolling a die, each side of which corresponds to a different sound score.

In "The Scene," Leroy Moore, seeley quest, Ralph Dickinson and Patty Berne enact a sexual encounter in which a dominatrix conducts an erotic medical procedure, captured on live video feed integrated with surreal images. Nomy Lamm offers two rock-opera pieces involving a "nest of legs" comprised of the prosthetic limbs that she has worn since she was a child. Spoken word pieces are offered by Leah Lakshmi ("Dirty River Girl"), Maria Palacios ("The Hunger" and "Vagina Manifesto"), and Aurora Levins Morales.
Gayle and David

Sins Invalid will be performed at Brava Theater, 2789 24th Street (at York), San Francisco, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 2, 3, and 4, Friday and Saturday shows at 8:00, Sunday at 7:00. All shows are wheelchair accessible and ASL interpreted. Tickets are $15-25, sliding scale (no one turned away for lack of funds), available from brownpapertickets.com, or at the door. More information at sinsinvalid.org, or 510-689-7198.

[Note: The photographs shown here are from my own body of sexual photography involving people with disabilities. They are not part of the Sins Invalid performance. For more about my photography of people with disabilities, see www.nearbycafe.com/loveandlust/steinberg/photo/disability.html and www.nearbycafe.com/loveandlust/steinberg/photo/disintro.html.]

Sex, Politics & More Sex

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Sexuality and Disability

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 07:18
Edgerman58 (not verified)

Carlin,
I loved this posting about "disability" and sex. Many years ago (back in 1982, to be precise) at the age of 30, I had the chance to be sexually (and emotionally) involved with a gay, and partial paraplegic man in his late 50's. His name was Marvin. We were "involved" for only 2 1/2 months, but what an incredible 2 1/2 months they were!
Though there were definite limits on what we could "do" together (in a physical sense), Marvin was the one who showed me that the emotions were every bit as important! He also opened me up to the fact that I was gay (or bi?)! So I will always hold him in a special place in my heart for that.
Before he and I met, I would have never given a guy in a wheelchair a second glance (in terms of sexual involvment, that is), but Marvin was a most enthusiastic lover! Thanks for sharing this posting! It brought back some very nice memories for me. Were all human, inspite of our genders, or our physical abilities. That's the realization Marvin left me!
Thanks again, Carlin!
Edgerman58

Disability and sexuality

Tue, 08/16/2011 - 13:23
Edgerman58 (not verified)

Carlin, thank you so much for posting the piece about the Sins Invalid theatre performance that was done in San Fransico a few years back; it was tremendous! I know this posting is now way out of date for that, but still, I just had to reply anyway!
I viewed the photo links you provided, as well, and I found them to be really quite beautiful, and erotically moving. It's so easy to ignore people with really obvious disabilities (in part, I suppose, because we have been taught to do so; and because many of us don't know how to deal with people like that)! I know that I was like that. I hadn't really known anyone (believe it or not) that was (at least obviously) "disabled!"
Anyway, when I was 30, my first marriage was in freefall, and during a painful six month separation, I met an older gay man who also happened to be a partial paraplegic (it's too long to go into here how we met). Since it seemed all too likely that my marriage was at an end, I decided that I would no longer ignore his obvious interest in me; and that began a very intense two and a half month "affair" between he and I!
Reading about the Sins Invalid performance piece brought back to me a lot of interesting memories about that time. One of the photos on the link (it was a series of photos, actually) involved a man in a wheelchair and a female companion. It strongly reminded me of my own experiences with the older gay man in the wheelchair that I mentioned earlier!
What I remember the most clearly about this experience, was how passionate, and how sexual, it was being together, he and I! The wheelchair was never an impediment. I mean, yes, we were certainly limited to a certain extent because of his "disability", but there was no limit imposed on the deeper, and more emotional linkages that grew between us! His disability didn't hamper his lustful enthusiasm one bit! In fact, I had never had such great sex before, and it kept drawing me back again and again!
We had "gay" sex, but that didn't matter much. We were two human beings drawn together the way two heterosexuals might be! Our gender didn't count. Also, the fact that he was a paraplegic quickly became incidental to me. It was him I wanted to be around. It was as simple as that, really!
One other thing I'd like to comment on about the Sins Invalid performance, is that people who don't look like the rest of the non-disabled majority face very similar challenges as aging gay men and women do! The older gay man I make mention of above, gave me a glimpse into that whole world. In fact, when I met him, he hadn't had a really significant, let alone long-term, relationship with another guy, in many years! He said that once your'e "too old" younger gay men look right through you as I you have become utterly invisible! That hurt I could tell. So, along with disability, you also have the double burden of growing old!! For him, he felt doubly damned. I know he was terribly frustrated by all of that.
Though he and I went our separate ways after a while, I have always remembered our times together with a great deal of fondness; and it's been nearly thirty years ago! It was very much a defining event in my evolving understanding of myself as a (bi) sexual being! Unfortunately, I never had the chance to thank him as I should have, because he died suddenly soon after we stopped seeing one another! Thanks to him, though, I have never been able to see a disabled person quite like I had prior to meeting him! Now I see them as just as human, and just as worthy of love and sexual fulfilment as anyone else is. Now, I see them. I don't turn my head and pretend they are not there. They disserve attention. They diserve respect. They diserve love, and lust, and passion, and fulfillment.
The non-disabled are just lucky to be (relatively speaking) whole! A car wreck could change all of that in a flash; then where would a person be? Would they now be unworthy of sex? Of course not! Nothing has really changed inside them. Their still the same person! I think that is what I learned way back in 1982 about people and "disablility." It also forever change the way I think of sexual attraction between genders! The line between genders is frequently a very porous one, I think.
Thanks again, Carlin, for the great post.
Edgerman58

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