Securing Intimate Citizenship: The Effect of Capacity to Sexual Consent Policies and Practices on the Right of Women with Intellectual Disability to Sexual Relationships

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Hannah Ginn, State University of New York. University at Buffalo

Version: View help for Version V1

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Project Citation:

Ginn, Hannah. Securing Intimate Citizenship: The Effect of Capacity to Sexual Consent Policies and Practices on the Right of Women with Intellectual Disability to Sexual Relationships. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-06-04. https://doi.org/10.3886/E203705V1

Project Description

Summary: Project Abstract: The goal of this project was to promote a shift in the paradigm of disability policies and practices from one that abridges the right of women with intellectual disability (ID) to sexual relationships, to one that secures the inalienability of this right. Partnered and sexual relationships are fundamental to many people’s physical and emotional well-being and the opportunity to pursue and maintain such relationships is an important quality of social inclusion and community living. However, Capacity to Sexual Consent (CTSC) policies and practices pose a significant barrier to such relationships for many women with ID as they are often used to abridge their right to sexually intimate relationships. Despite growing objections to the ways in which the socio-sexual opportunities of women with ID are obstructed, relatively minimal scholarship has examined the effects of CTSC. Operating from the position that sexual rights are universal and inalienable, the aims of this project were twofold. The first aim entailed critically evaluating how CTSC renders conditional the right of women with ID to sexually intimate relationships. The second aim was to offer an alternative paradigm for services that secures the inalienability of this right, while accounting for variation in women’s abilities. To pursue these aims, this project involved three conceptually-related research studies, each using a different analytical method to examine one particular quality of CTSC. Study 1 was a critical conceptual analysis of the misalignment of CTSC policies with the right to sexual relationships for women with ID. Study 2 used critical discourse analysis to elucidate the ways in which CTSC assessment tools abridge this right in practice. Study 3 was a survey analysis of disability professionals’ perspectives regarding CTSC policies and practices. Each study offered specific recommendations for an alternative paradigm with regard to: a replacement policy that secures the right to sexual relationships for women with ID (Study 1); a new assessment practice to elicit women’s directions for their socio-sexual lives and connect them with vital resources (Study 2); and the necessary supports for disability professionals to support the right of women with ID to sexually intimate relationships (Study 3).

Funding Sources: United States Department of Health and Human Services. Administration for Community Living. National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (90SFGE0042)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: intellectual disability; sexual rights; sexuality attitudes; disability professionals

Geographic Coverage: United States

Time Period(s): 4/2022 – 6/2022

Collection Date(s): 4/2022 – 6/2022

Universe: Disability professionals serving people with intellectual disability.

Data Type(s): survey data

Collection Notes: I disseminated the online survey opportunity using Survey Monkey between April and June 2022 via email to: State Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) provider listservs (N = 18) and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) Sexual Health Special Interest Group (SIG) listserv.

Methodology

Sampling: Cross-sectional convenience sample

Collection Mode(s): web-based survey

Scales: Brief Sexual Attitudes Survey (BSAS) Permissiveness Subscales

Unit(s) of Observation: individuals

Related Publications

Release of this data has been delayed until 08/31/2026 at the request of the depositor.

Published Versions

V1 [2024-06-04]

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