Thorsten S. alerted us to a calendar illustrated with black-and-white nude photographs of Germans who have competed in the Paralympic Games. On the Web site of the photographers, Huenecken & Inselmann [link NSFW!], subjects include people in wheelchairs and people who use lower-limb prostheses.
Compare these portrayals of persons with disabilities to the portrayal of fetish model Viktoria, who was a Bizarre mag cover girl, apparently in part because she has a below-the-knee amputation. Do these calendar photos highlight the German athletes’ disabilities in the same way that the shoot of Viktoria fetishizes her disability? Alternatively, check out our earlier post about Disaboom, a community site whose ads for its dating service feature muscular and attractive people with disabilities. Do these calendar photos challenge the mainstream stereotype that people with disabilities can’t be sexy or strong?
By the way, how do gender expectations and stereotypes play out in these photos? If you go to the gallery linked early in this entry, you can see a man holding a gun in a position that clearly makes it analogous to his penis. You can also see an especially objectified [decapitated = identity erased] woman on horseback, as well as a woman in a stereotypical beach bunny/pinup pose. The tendency of the calendar to revert to dull assumptions of how men and women should be posed and photographed complicates any radical agenda of celebrating the bodies of people with disabilities.
Pictures with artistic NSFW nudity below the cut.
Comments 18
Muriel Minnie Mae — September 23, 2008
1. Is it me or are all these models hairless?
2. I worked with a number of people who were "confined" to a wheel chair. None of them had bodies like this. Many had incontinence problems, body fluid bags, and other "unsightly" mechanisms attached to their bodies which allowed them to live "normal" lives. Why don't they get a calendar?
OP Minded — September 23, 2008
I'd imagine you'd have better luck selling calendars that don't feature "unsightly" images... LOL.
anon — September 23, 2008
just to be clear - disaboom is not "just" a "dating" site. but actually is an online community for all sorts of exchange for those living with disabilities.
Ben "O." Ostrowsky — September 23, 2008
See also Amber Amputee, a young woman and "alternative" model who is pictured here in a t-shirt with a disabled-parking logo and the words "I'm Just In It For The Parking". Her MySpace site has over 10,000 friends.
Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!
Anonymous — September 24, 2008
The second image basically looks like he's getting a blowjob. Not very subtle.
Frank — September 28, 2008
By the way, how do gender expectations and stereotypes play out in these photos? If you go to the gallery linked early in this entry, you can see a man holding a gun in a position that clearly makes it analogous to his penis. You can also see an especially objectified [decapitated = identity erased] woman on horseback, as well as a woman in a stereotypical beach bunny/pinup pose.
anthony — May 28, 2009
THAT IS THE SICKEST PICTURE I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!
gaurav — May 28, 2009
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gaurav — May 28, 2009
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gaurav — May 28, 2009
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eyelinerpirate — June 7, 2009
Is it also, perhaps, significant that in a series of visual representations of people with disabilities, so many of the subjects aren't visibly disabled?
“Disabled Girls” Video Game » Sociological Images — November 26, 2009
[...] with a limp as an ugly friend, Goodyear ad featuring a sad kid in a wheelchair, nude calendar of Paralympic athletes, dolls with Down’s Syndrome, models with disabilities in a British Top Model show, [...]
Heather — January 12, 2010
beautiful photos!
Acceptance by Drawing the Male Gaze – Pt. 2 | | Femmedia Femmedia — January 25, 2012
[...] the past they’ve spoken about displaying people as whole people, rather than focussing on the disability (compared to Viktoria, a model with an amputated limb, whom they accuse of fetishizing it), and I [...]
Remguy — October 2, 2020
Guy in a wheelchair just wondering about the sexuality of other handicapped people. Do they/we still do it? How? How often? (Who, where, and when?) Can’t decide if sex disappeared because of handicap or just age. How to get it back? Do I really WANT it back? Can finally focus on other things, ie getting through a conversation with a woman without imagining having sex with her. (Maybe just once. Alright twice. But definitely not a third time, now THAT’S progress!). PS - In all seriousness, I like the pics. It’s somehow refreshing to see a beautiful naked woman in a wheelchair, provided she really uses one.
Anonymous — September 2, 2022
The article does read " athletes " and many of them shave their bodies.