“Walking or Rolling – Everybody Wants to Fuck” Resistance against heteronormative gender structures and ableism in Sweden

Sexualitet och normbrytande funktionsvariationer är ett tabubelagt område i Sverige. Historisk har både forskare och aktivister i Sverige prioriterat andra frågor (Kulick and Rydström, 2015). Men de senaste åren har flera aktörer, inom och utom, funkisrörelsen börjat lyfta frågor om sexualitet. Min avhandling kommer handla om de motstånd som funkisrörelsen börjat formulera mot heteronormativ könsmakt och funktionsmaktsordningar. Vad vill dessa aktivister? Vad för möjligheter och hinder ser dem? Vilka nya normer skapas i motståndet?

The disability movement is one of the most well established social movements in Sweden. Historically, however, the disability movement did not put sexuality and disability on their agenda (Kulick and Rydström, 2015). Until now. For example; the organisation Youth with Mobile Impairment created a lot of attention at West Pride 2014 with their slogan “Walking or Rolling – Everybody Wants to Fuck!”. The Swedish National Association for People with Intellectual Disability have started to discus sexuality in a project they call Kiss – A textbook about sexuality and relations. The organisation FHOBIT was an activist forum in Sweden for disabled LGBTQ-persons between 2002 and 2012. The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Rights and the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education have also made great efforts to spread awareness about sexuality and disability. Something seems to be about to happen in Sweden and I want to explore this newborn activism.

The overall aim of my study is to explore resistance against heteronormative gender power and ableism in Sweden. This leads me to the questions: What do activists in Sweden want in regard to sexuality and disability? What possibilities and obstacles do disability activists, and their allies, see? Which new norms of sexuality, gender and disability dose the resistance engender?