DisabledSexGuide.com is an adult resource that explores and celebrates the complexity of human sexuality.
By representing the sexuality of disabled persons, we aim to help break the stereotype that sex and pleasure are only for certain types of bodies.
DisabledSexGuide.com is published by MNRVA Media Group, a digital media company that specializes in adult sex education and adult entertainment news.
Canadian sextech expert and journalist Jenna Owsianik created DisabledSexGuide.com after receiving numerous press releases and content pitches featuring the diverse sex lives and sexual health needs of people with disabilities. However, what seemed to be missing was a go-to sex-positive resource to share 18+ sex, love, and disability resources.
Jenna Owsianik does not identify as disabled. In an upcoming post, she will share more of her personal motivations for starting Disabled Sex Guide along with her past struggles with chronic fatigue, chronic pain, and walking.
A note on language
Being called Disabled Sex Guide, this publication’s name embraces identity-first language.
Identity-first vs person-first
To be more clear, placing the word “Disabled” before “Sex” as a descriptor, similar to how someone might say, “I am a disabled person” highlights disability as an identity.
The phrase “I am a person living with disabilities,” on the other hand, is an example of person-first language. It mentions people before naming any form of disability or condition.
Language and identity matter
Our mission is to present disability and sexuality in a positive and supportive manner—one that resists fetishizing disability and is committed to respect and consent.
Many disabled people use identity-first language, saying person-first language obscures disabled identities and reinforces negative and ableist views about disabilities.
A strong preference for identity-first language, in particular, exists within the Deaf and Autistic communities.
‘Disabled porn’ performers and creators
For the first three years of running DisabledSexGuide, I stayed away from using the term “disabled porn.” As an editor, it doesn’t really make sense to call pornography disabled, since porn is not a person. Despite this, I’ve noticed more people finding my site by searching the term “disabled porn.”
Another reason for my hesitation is I felt the term “disabled porn” may sound like devotee language that objectifies disabled people and reinforces sexual ableism. When I search the term online, the top sites that come up are normally tube sites, not sites created by disabled performers or even independent adult studios. On adult tube sites, content is not always promoted in an ethical way that the performers involved originally agreed to.
My goal with embracing the term “Disabled Porn” as an article category, and more generally on this site, is to highlight the work of disabled performers themselves. By adding more context to how the disabled sex scenes and the performers themselves, I aim to do a better job of representing diverse sexuality and crediting creators. Instead of landing on tube sites owned by multinational conglomerates accused of dicey ethics and questionable practices, I’d like people who search “disabled porn” and other common search terms related to sex and disability, to find us.