Disability and Sexuality in Margarita with a Straw
Mansi Grover
Email- mansigrover90@gmail.com
9999256075
Ph.D. Research Scholar
Department of English
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
Abstract: The paper examines the stigma which is attached with a disabled body and its sexual needs. The stigmatization of a disabled body creates a non-disabled heteronormative imaginary that is uncomfortable with a disabled having sexual relations and the contestation increases threefold when it is a homosexual relationship between two disabled women. It also looks at the connection between heterosexuality and able-bodied identity. It tries to analyze the censorship of certain scenes in the film, Margarita with a Straw, directed by Shonali Bose. Through
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Margarita with a Straw enters the domain where it shows disabled bodies as both subjects and objects of a range of erotic desires and practices. It deals with the portrayal of bisexual identity of a girl, Laila, who has cerebral palsy. Laila is depicted negotiating with her sexuality in an abelist and heteronormative culture where the constant subordination of homosexuality to heterosexuality and disability to able-bodiedness allows heterosexuality and able-bodiedness to be institutionalized as ‘normal’ and anything not abiding with the normative comes under scrutiny. The paper talks about the representation of disability and sexuality in the film and the way in which Laila's impairment adds another layer for the film to come under the scanner of Central Board of Film …show more content…
The subversive undertones in Laila’s character could be read in the scene where Tribes, Laila’s band, wins the DU music contest but she feels miserable when the judge announces that they were awarded only because of her special challenge. When the judge asks for her response, Laila shows her the finger and leaves. Also, through her different sexual encounters, she negotiates a sense of embodiment that challenges the prevailing corpo-normative and hetero-normative standards of femininity and
The two essays “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs and “A Plague of Tics” by David Sedaris are excellent pieces of work that share many similarities. This paper would reflect on these similarities particularly in terms of the author, message and the targeted audience. On an everyday basis, people view those with disabilities in a different light and make them conscious at every step. This may be done without a conscious realisation but then it is probably human nature to observe and notice things that deviate from the normal in a society. In a way people are conditioned to look negatively at those individuals who are different in the conventional
Mariam and Laila are considerate, bold and protective while all their rights as humans are being oppressed. They can be courageous when there is everything to be afraid of, yet they take the risk, because they know it is right. Both will protect when they haven’t been protected from the danger of oppression. Laila and Mariam can be sympathetic in an inconsiderate world. Together, Mariam and Laila exemplify the hidden defiance against oppression, a burning fire counterattacking the darkness.
Moreover, within the text, the significance of symbolism is apparent as there are indications of the presence of different handicaps. Notably, those with above average physical attributes and above average intelligence are required by law to wear handicaps. Thus, the application and enforcement of handicaps are metaphors for sameness, because individuals with advantageous traits are limited and refrained from using their bodies and brains to their maximum abilities, for that is considered to be unfair to those who does not possess the same level of capability. Several main examples of handicaps includes “...47 pounds of birdshot… ear radios… spectacles intended to make [one] not only half blind but to [provide] whanging headaches”. Therefore, the intensity of the handicaps is a sign of the government’s seriousness in the field of administering disabilities onto their own citizens. Unfortunately, in order to maintain the sickly “equality”, the people are stripped off of their freedom. When announcers are unable to speak properly, and ballerinas are unable to dance properly, and musicians unable to perform properly, and people are unable to formulate thoughts properly — it is not a matter of equality, but a matter how low society
Gender has been broadly used within the humanities and social sciences as both a means to categories dissimilarities, and as a logical concept to give details differences. In both the humanities and social sciences. Disability studies has appeared partly as a result of challenges to give details gendered experience of disability and partly as a challenge to contemporary feminist theory on gender which fails to take description of disability. Disabled people have frequently been standing for as without gender, as asexual creatures, as freaks of nature, hideous, the ‘Other’ to the social norm. In this way it may be taking for granted that for disabled people gender has little bearing. However, the image of disability may be make physically powerful by gender - for women a sense of intensified passivity and helplessness, for men a dishonesties masculinity make by put into effected dependence. Moreover these images have real consequences in terms of
In the article, “Freaks and Queer” by Eli Clare, the author discusses the meaning of certain words that are used to describe individuals with disabilities such as “queer”, “retard”, “cripple” and how they provide him with a sense of pride and strength. He also discusses the history of freakdom, and describes the horrid treatments of many disabled people who were not only objectified but also mistreated by the public in freak shows. Hence, Clare does not yet identifies nor associates himself with the word “freak”, due to its negative implications (Clare,
The stark expectations surrounding gender and sex of today’s society stem largely from a need to seek use of exclusionary language. Jacques Derrida, one of the many source contributors from which Judith Butler sought out to formulate Queer Theory as we know it today, pegged the idea that language is exclusionary in and of itself. His most commonly used example is that of “chair” versus “not chair”; how do you define a chair? If you were to look at a bench, a couch, a table, a swing, a bed- these things are “not chair”. Similar to this example is the situation that society forces every individual born into it to face- “male” and “not male”, or “female” and “not female”. Fausto-Sterling approaches this issue from a unique perspective that utilizes both her knowledge as biologist (looking towards the cellular basis of “sex”) paired with her self-proclaimed feminist perspective. Her perspective on a more sensible system of sex was initial...
Gayle Rubin’s Thinking Sex considers the political history of sex regulation, its current form, and a bit of theory about sexuality and its discourses. At the very apex of the flow of the article towards freedom in sexual practice, she draws the line at consent, straining out bad sex from good sex on the line in the sand of what is agreed to and what is not. Rubin’s piece fails to take seriously the History of Sexuality that she relies on for her rejection of political regulations about sexuality, and thus ends up advocating the consent limitation that recapitulates all the problems and fancies she finds in sexual legislation.
What comes into one’s mind when they are asked to consider physical disabilities? Pity and embarrassment, or hope and encouragement? Perhaps a mix between the two contrasting emotions? The average, able-bodied person must have a different perspective than a handicapped person, on the quality of life of a physically disabled person. Nancy Mairs, Andre Dubus, and Harriet McBryde Johnson are three authors who shared their experiences as physically handicapped adults. Although the three authors wrote different pieces, all three essays demonstrate the frustrations, struggles, contemplations, and triumphs from a disabled person’s point of view and are aimed at a reader with no physical disability.
First and foremost, the literary trope of disability is found in the short story, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver. In summary, the story follows a couple who house a blind man for the night. The husband is our narrator and the narrator’s wife (neither of the spouses’ names are revealed to readers) declares that her friend, Robert, is coming to visit them. Robert is a blind man whose wife has recently died. The narrator’s wife met Robert while she worked as a reader to the blind. The narrator is not keen upon Robert coming to lodge at his home and is disconcerte...
...ing: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion." Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex." 121-156.New York: Routledge, 1993.
... the Making of Identities of Disability in Hypatia Vol. 17, No. 3, Feminism and Disability, Part 2, 2002, pp. 67-88. Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Hypatia, Inc.
There are some aspects that are displayed in the article freaks and queers by Eli Clare. These aspects include disability, exile and pride, liberation, and queerness that are discussed through some words that describe people who ae disabled. Clare is one of the disabled people who is suffering from a disability known as cerebral palsy. Hence, he accepts some words that are used to describe him such as queer and cripple. This acceptance helps him to be strong as well as proud rather than having a feeling of worthlessness and weakness. Also, Clare finds out the definition of the words with an aim of understanding why the disabled people embrace some words while there are words that are termed as offensive and unacceptable. However, he declares that he had not yet accepted the use of the word freak that was used to refer to the disabled people in the community whereas, there are other people in the same community who accept the word. The other people declared that the use of the words helps them to have self-assurance as well as have a sense of pride. As a result, Clare explores more on the aspect of the word and associates it with some connotations that are negative meaning.
Also, the film revealed women empowerment and how superior they can be compared to men. While demonstrating sexual objectification, empowerment, there was also sexual exploitation of the women, shown through the film. Throughout this essay, gender based issues that were associated with the film character will be demonstrated while connecting to the real world and popular culture.
The films message to viewers about gender and power is that women are meant to take care of the home and play the supportive role, while men go out to their jobs and provide. Men are strong and burly and women are naïve and domesticated. Women need men and men always come to the rescue to save women and give them a happy ending. Power is portrayed in the film both visually and through the film’s script and dialogue. The common idea that women are inferior to men is placed subtly in this movie throughout the plot and how these charac...
...eglected social issues in recent history (Barlow). People with disabilities often face societal barriers and disability evokes negative perceptions and discrimination in society. As a result of the stigma associated with disability, persons with disabilities are generally excluded from education, employment, and community life which deprives them of opportunities essential to their social development, health and well-being (Stefan). It is such barriers and discrimination that actually set people apart from society, in many cases making them a burden to the community. The ideas and concepts of equality and full participation for persons with disabilities have been developed very far on paper, but not in reality (Wallace). The government can make numerous laws against discrimination, but this does not change the way that people with disabilities are judged in society.