Crippad intersektionalitet: kategorier i rörelse mellan sexualitet och normbrytande funktionalitet

Abstract

This article examines how sexuality and dis/ability are constructed and reproduced, drawing on crip theory and intersectionality as its combined analytical framework. Based on qualitative interviews with 65 individuals with diverse dis/ability experiences, gender identities, sexual orientations, and life situations, the study investigates how participants describe their sexuality, the barriers they encounter, and how these experiences become intelligible through an intersectional lens that foregrounds dis/ability as an analytic category in its own right.

Analytically, the article advances a critique of categorical assumptions by adopting an intracategorical approach to intersectionality. It demonstrates how dis/ability interacts with gender, sexuality, and other social locations in both expected and unexpected ways, revealing variations within groups often treated as homogeneous. Through three thematic explorations: LGBTQ identities, women’s experiences of intimate partner violence, and men’s reflections on purchasing sexual services, the study shows how participants negotiate sexual ableism while simultaneously occupying shifting positions of privilege and marginalization.

Drawing on crip epistemology, the article argues that sexuality and dis/ability must be understood as relational, context-dependent, and analytically intertwined. By highlighting the complexity and variability of these intersections, the article contributes to debates on how intersectionality is used within critical disability studies and underscores the need for more nuanced, non-hierarchical approaches to categorization in feminist and disability scholarship.