Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Masturbation Practices of Men and Women with Upper Limb Motor Disabilities

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Sexuality and Disability Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Masturbation is a little-discussed topic but an ubiquitous reality. Masturbation practices are multidimensional and influenced by sociocultural, religious, physical and psychological factors. The social discourses most often conveyed concerning people with disabilities aggravate their image as immature, asexual people. The aim of this article is to document the masturbation practices of men and women with upper limb disabilities. To do so, a qualitative methodology was used, involving semistructured interviews with 18 people with upper limb disabilities, aged 18 years and over. The results of the study show that the realities they face have both similarities and differences, but all subjects encountered substantial difficulties. Similarities included a significant need to discover their sexuality during adolescence as well as diverse issues related to a mismatch between body schema and social norms and difficulties masturbating due to lack of comfort. Differences included men having greater anatomical knowledge than women. The main reason why people with disabilities experience such difficulties is that these issues have not been given much attention and few solutions exist. To promote these people’s sexual autonomy via masturbation, a set of solutions is suggested, including educational and hospital programs, guides, training, adaptation of sex toys, and legalization of appropriate sexual assistance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Browne, J., Russell, S.: My home, your workplace: people with physical disability negotiate their sexual health without crossing professional boundaries. Disabil. Soc. 20(4), 375–388 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. United Nations Enable.: What Is Disability and Who Are Persons with Disabilities? http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/faqs.htm#definition (2015). Accessed 24 Feb 2016

  3. Desjardins, G.: Une mémoire hantée: L’histoire de la sexualité au Québec. Cap-aux-Diamants: La revue d’histoire du Québec 49, 10–14 (1997)

  4. Esmail, S., Darry, K., Walter, A., Knupp, H.: Attitudes and perceptions towards disability and sexuality. Disabil. Rehabil. 32(14), 1148–1155 (2010)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Ministère de l’Éducation, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche.: Éducation à la sexualité. Government of Quebec, Quebec City, QC (2015)

  6. Zillmann, D.: Influence of unrestrained access to erotica on adolescents’ and young adults’ dispositions toward sexuality. J. Adolesc. Health 27(2), 41–44 (2000)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Duquet, F.: L’éducation à la sexualité dans le contexte de la réforme de l’éducation. Government of Quebec, Quebec City (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Tepper, M.: Sexuality and disability: the missing discourse of pleasure. Sex. Disabil. 18, 283–290 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Shakespeare, T.: Disabled sexuality: toward rights and recognition. Sex. Disabil. 18, 159–166 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Neufeld, J.A., Klingbeil, F., Bryen, D.N., Silverman, B., Thomas, A.: Adolescent sexuality and disability. Phys. Med. Rehabil. Clin. N. Am. 13(4), 857–873 (2002)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Tregaskis, C.: Interviewing non-disabled people about their disability-related attitudes: seeking methodologies. Disabil. Soc. Work 15, 343–353 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Earle, S.: Disability, facilitated sex and the role of the nurse. J. Adv. Nurs. 36(3), 433–440 (2001)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Rowen, T.S., Stein, S., Tepper, M.: Sexual health care for people with physical disabilities. J. Sex. Med. 12(3), 584–589 (2015)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Besse, M.: Pour une éducation à la sexualité: Le point de vue d’une intervenante du planning familial. VST 3, 27–30 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Winges-Yanez, N.: Discourse analysis of curriculum on sexuality education: FLASH for special education. Sex. Disabil. 32(4), 485–498 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Sevène, A.: Fonction sexuelle et handicap physique. Presse Med. 43(10), 1116–1119 (2014)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Masson, D.: Femme et handicap. Rech. fém. 26(1), 111–129 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Noreau, L., Noonan, V., Cobb, J., Leblond, J., Dumont, F.: Spinal Cord Injury Community Survey: a national, comprehensive study to portray the lives of Canadians with spinal cord injury. Top. Spinal Cord Inj. Rehabil. 20(4), 249–264 (2014)

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Mossuz-Lavau, J.: La vie sexuelle en France. Éditions de la Martinière, Paris (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Bozon, M.: Sociologie de la sexualité. Nathan, Paris (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Bajos, N., Bozon, M.: Enquête sur la sexualité en France. La Découverte, Paris (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Beasley, C.: Gender and Sexuality: Critical Theories, Critical Thinkers. Sage, Thousand Oaks (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Cameron, D.: Language, gender, and sexuality: current issues and new directions. Appl. Linguist. 26(4), 482–502 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Youdell, D.: Sex–gender–sexuality: how sex, gender and sexuality constellations are constituted in secondary schools. Gend. Educ. 17(3), 249–270 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Schneider, M.: La confusion des sexes. Flammarion, Paris (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Hatfield, E., Luckhurst, C., Rapson, R.: Sexual motives: cultural, evolutionary, and social psychological perspectives. Sex. Cult. 14, 173–190 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Hiller, J.: Gender differences in sexual motivation. Pract. Med. 2, 339–345 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Boivin, J.: L’association entre la dépendance, l’autocritique, les motivations sexuelles et la satisfaction sexuelle. Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Hill, C.A., Preston, L.K.: Individual differences in the experience of sexual motivation: theory and measurement of dispositional sexual motives. J. Sex. Res. 33, 27–45 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Carvalho, J., Nobre, P.: Différences de genre et désir sexuel. Comment les facteurs émotionnels et relationnels déterminent-ils le désir sexuel selon le genre? Sexologies 20(4), 235–240 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Mah, K., Binik, Y.: Are orgasms in the mind or the body? Psychosocial versus physiological correlates or orgasmic pleasure and satisfaction. J. Sex Marital Ther. 31, 187–200 (2005)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Koch, T., Kralik, D., Eastwood, S.: Constructions of sexuality for women living with multiple sclerosis. J. Adv. Nurs. 39, 137–145 (2002)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Bozon, M.: Orientations intimes et constructions de soi. Pluralité et divergences dans les expressions de la sexualité. Sociétés contemporaines 41, 11–40 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Sakellariou, D., Algado, S.S.: Sexuality and disability: a case of occupational injustice. Br. J. Occup. Ther. 69, 69–76 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Sakellariou, D.: If not the disability, then what? Barriers to reclaiming sexuality following spinal cord injury. Sex. Disabil. 24, 101–111 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Zitzelberger, H.: (In)visibility: accounts of embodiment of women with physical disabilities and differences. Disabil. Soc. 20(4), 389–403 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Vaughn, M., Silver, K., Murphy, S., Ashbaugh, R., Hoffman, A.: Women with disabilities discuss sexuality in San Francisco focus groups. Sex. Disabil. 33, 19–46 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Howland, C.A., Rintala, D.H.: Dating behaviors of women with physical disabilities. Sex. Disabil. 19(1), 41–70 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Kolzet, J., Quinn, H., Zemon, V., Tyry, T., Marrie, R.A., Foley, F.W., et al.: Predictors of body image related sexual dysfunction in men and women with multiple sclerosis. Sex. Disabil. 33(1), 63–73 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Weaver, A., Byers, S.: The relationships among body image, body mass index, exercise, and sexual functioning in heterosexual women. Psychol. Women Q. 30, 333–339 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Tiefer, L.: Towards a feminist sex therapy. Women Ther. 19, 53–64 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Kaestle, C.E., Allen, K.R.: The role of masturbation in healthy sexual development: perceptions of young adults. Arch. Sex. Behav. 40, 983–984 (2011)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Tiefer, L.: Masturbation: beyond caution, complacency and contradiction. J. Sex Marital Ther. 13, 9–14 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Coleman, E.: Masturbation as a means of achieving sexual health. J. Psychol. Hum. Sex. 14(2/3), 5–16 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  45. McCormick, N.B.: Sexual Salvation: Affirming Women’s Sexual Rights and Pleasures. Praeger, Westport (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  46. Christensen, C.: Prescribed masturbation in sex therapy: a critique. J. Sex Marital Ther. 21, 87–99 (1995)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Action des femmes handicapées (Montréal).: La situation, les préoccupations et les besoins des femmes handicapées au Québec: constats, obstacles et défis. Action des femmes handicapées (Montréal), Montreal, QC (2012)

  48. Petersen, J.L., Hyde, J.S.: A meta-analytic review of research on gender differences in sexuality, 1993–2007. Psychol. Bull. 136, 21–38 (2010)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Bowman, C.P.: Women’s masturbation experiences of sexual empowerment in a primarily sex-positive sample. Psychol. Women Q. 38(3), 363–378 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Schwartz, P.: The social construction of heterosexuality. In: Kimmel, M.S. (ed.) The Sexual Self: The Construction of Sexual Scripts, pp. 80–92. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Wade, L.D., Kremer, E.C., Brown, J.: The incidental orgasm: the presence of clitoral knowledge and the absence of orgasm for women. Women Health 42, 117–138 (2005)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Hogarth, H., Ingham, R.: Masturbation among young women and associations with sexual health: an exploratory study. J. Sex Res. 46, 558–567 (2009)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Gagnon, J.H.: Attitudes and responses of parents to pre-adolescent masturbation. Arch. Sex. Behav. 14, 451–466 (1985)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Halpern, C.T., Waller, M.W., Spriggs, A., Hallfors, D.D.: Adolescent predictors of emerging adult sexual patterns. J. Adolesc. Health 39, 926 (2006)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Shandra, C.L., Chowdhury, A.R.: The first sexual experience among adolescent girls with and without disabilities. J. Youth Adolesc. 41(4), 515–532 (2012)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Tissot, C.: Establishing a sexual identity: case studies of learners with autism and learning difficulties. Autism 13(6), 551–566 (2009)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Nelson, M.: Sexuality in childhood disability. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 9(2), 451–462 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  58. Wiegerink, D.J., Roebroeck, M.E., Donkervoort, M., Stam, H.J., Cohen-Kettenis, P.T.: Social and sexual relationships of adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy: a review. Clin. Rehabil. 20(12), 1023–1031 (2006)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Shapiro, T.: Masturbation, sexuality, and adaptation: normalization in adolescence. J. Am. Psychoanal. Assoc. 56, 123–146 (2008)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Blais, M., Raymond, S., Manseau, H., Otis, J.: La sexualité des jeunes Québécois et Canadiens. Regard critique sur le concept d’ «hypersexualisation». Globe: Revue Internationale d’Études Québécoises 12(2), 23–46 (2009)

  61. Thériault, J.: Intimité et sexualité à l’adolescence. Counseling et spiritualité 25(1), 9–27 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  62. Ponholzer, A., Temml, C., Rauchenwald, M., Marszalek, M., Madersbacher, S.: Is the metabolic syndrome a risk factor for female sexual dysfunction in sexually active women? Int. J. Impot. Res. 20, 100–104 (2008)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Dupras, A.: Handicap et sexualité: quelles solutions à la misère sexuelle? ALTER 6(1), 13–23 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  64. Giami, A.: Coping with the sexuality of the disabled: a comparison of the physically disabled and the mentally retarded. Int. J. Rehabil. Res. 10(1), 41–48 (1987)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  65. McCabe, M.P., Taleporos, G., Dip, G.: Sexual esteem, sexual satisfaction, and sexual behaviour among people with physical disability. Arch. Sex. Behav. 32, 359–369 (2003)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Bailar-Heath, B., Hough, S., Kassioukov, A., MacHattie, E., Naphtali, K., Miller, W.C., et al.: Sexual device manual for persons with disability. Sex. Disabil. 28(1), 61–62 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Jannini, E.A., Limoncin, E., Ciocca, G., Buehler, S., Krychman, M.: Ethical aspects of sexual medicine. Internet, vibrators, and other sex aids: Toys or therapeutic instruments? Int. Soc. Sex. Med. 9, 2994–3001 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Wilkerson, A.: Disability, sex radicalism, and political agency. In: Hall, K.Q. (ed.) Feminist Disability Studies, pp. 193–217. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  69. Savoie-Zajc, L.: L’entrevue semi-dirigée. In: Gauthier, B. (ed.) Recherche sociale: de la problématique à la collecte des données, pp. 263–285. Presses de l’Université du Québec, Sainte-Foy (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  70. Deschenaux, F., Bourdon, S., Baribeau, C.: Introduction à l’analyse qualitative informatisée à l’aide du logiciel QSR Nvivo 2.0. Les cahiers pédagogiques de l’Association pour la recherche qualitative, Trois-Rivières, QC (2005)

  71. Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M.: Analyse des données qualitatives, 2nd edn. De Boeck, Brussels (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  72. Mongeau, P.: Réaliser son mémoire ou sa thèse: Côté jeans & tenue de soirée. Presses de l’Université du Québec, Quebec City (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  73. Curry, M.A., Hassouneh-Phillips, D., Johnston-Silverberg, A.: Abuse of women with disabilities: an ecological model and review. Violence Against Women 7, 60–79 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Public Health Agency of Canada.: Canadian guidelines for sexual health education. Infectious Disease and Emergency Preparedness Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa (2008)

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research project was carried out thanks to funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Société et Culture granting program for “innovative projects”. The research team would also like to thank all of the participants who gave their time to answer questions during the interviews. The principal investigator would like to thank his colleagues for their expertise, support and suggestions during the study, particularly David Gotti for his enthusiastic work.

Funding

This study was funded by Fonds de recherche du Québec—Société et Culture granting program for “innovative projects”, Award Number: 2015-AN-184604

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, 1050 avenue de la Médecine, Quebec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Ernesto Morales

  2. Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Réadaptation et Intégration Sociale (CIRRIS), 525 boulevard Wilfrid-Hamel, Quebec City, QC, G1M 2S8, Canada

    Ernesto Morales, Véronique Gauthier & Geoffrey Edwards

  3. Department of Social Work, Université Laval, Pavillon Charles-De-Koninck, 1030, av. des Sciences-Humaines, Quebec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Véronique Gauthier

  4. Department of Geomatic Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics, Université Laval, 2405 rue de la Terrasse, Quebec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Geoffrey Edwards

  5. Department of Sexology, Université du Québec à Montréal, 455 René-Levesque East, Montreal, QC, H2L 4Y2, Canada

    Frédérique Courtois

  6. Institut de réadaptation Gingras-Lindsay-de-Montréal, 6300 Darlington Avenue, Montreal, QC, H3S 2J4, Canada

    Frédérique Courtois

Authors
  1. Ernesto Morales
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Véronique Gauthier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Geoffrey Edwards
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Frédérique Courtois
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ernesto Morales.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This research is in compliance with ethical standards as it was reviewed by the ethics committee of the institut de réadaptation en déficience physique de Québec.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Morales, E., Gauthier, V., Edwards, G. et al. Masturbation Practices of Men and Women with Upper Limb Motor Disabilities. Sex Disabil 34, 417–431 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-016-9445-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-016-9445-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation