The UK newspaper The Observer recently published the results of its Sex Poll, which included this question: Have you ever had sex with someone with a physical disability?
The results were as follows:
– 70% said No, and I don’t think I would.
– 26% said No, but I would not rule it out.
– 4% said Yes
Those numbers don’t surprise me and I suppose I could use them as a justification for throwing my hands in the air (er, figuratively) and settling in for a life of celibate bachelorhood. But I’m not really interested in trying to earn the affection of that 70%. Those are probably the same 70% that refuse to try sushi or watch a movie with subtitles; the boring and the conformist. I’m more interested in seeking out members of the other 30%. Those are the interesting people. They’re not easy to spot and it takes more than a little time and luck to find them, but they’re out there.
These statistics simply reaffirm that disability, in the abstract, is not attractive to most people. But individually, we gimps are not abstractions.
Considering the Swedish stand-upcomedian Jesper Odelberg, whom everybody wants to see and to admire on YouTube (and in reality as well, which causes him to need bodyguard protection against the enormous crowds of fans he has in Norway e.g.) one would think there is some positve discrimination in favour of people in weelchairs. Odelbergs song: “My balls are OK,” is so funny. He simply says: I can talk and I am a good lover. This straightforward message seems to please and to attract a great number of women. Next to his humour, of course.
Odelberg has cerebral palsy. One of the funny statements in the song I mentioned sounds like: when I was born I heard the doctor say: this boy has some disease ,but his balls are OK.
Hmm… Okay, I need some context. What percentage of the population is physically disabled? Perhaps also, what percentage of people may choose to be celibate? (Probably part of the 70% would be unlikely to have sex at all.) Just my random thoughts.
Once you go gimp, you never go limp.