Höga klackar och rullstol - En könsteoretisk studie av kvinnor med livslångt funktionshinder

Abstract

Is there such a thing as the myth of the perfect body? How does this myth influence the handicapped or the disabled woman with her "incomplete" and anything but "perfect" body? Par definition handicapped women are associated with negative connotations which means that they are excluded from traditionally female roles such as wife, mother and mistress. In these respects they are not delined as females. This means that their socialisation has been maleorientated and at the same time that they have escaped the "prettywoman" ideology. Since marriage was not possible as a means of support it was not unusual for a disabled women to get both a good education as well as vocational training. These women have also played an important role in breaking up gendered systems of behaviour since they have had to make their voices heard and their bodies visible in order to claim their rights by a society that traditionally have made them invisi ble and mute. This article argues that it is vital to include the handicapped or disabled woman when discussing gender theory and gender construction.