[nfb-talk] Blindness and Sexuality

Mon Apr 2 18:12:51 UTC 2012

Mike, great joke! Love it!!

Chris Nusbaum

"For we walk by faith, not by sight."
2 Corinthians 5:7

Sent from my BrailleNote

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Johnson" <blinddog3 at charter.net
To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
 sent: Sun, 1 Apr 2012 19:32:02 -0500
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Blindness and Sexuality

Mike, great stuff!  Now, you wrote this, right...love it!

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org 
[mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Michael Bullis
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2012 7:26 PM
To: 'NFB Talk Mailing List'
Subject: [nfb-talk] Blindness and Sexuality

Considering the date, this is well written.

Mike

Blindness and Sexuality: Researching Myths and Facts Summary 
Report:

Distributed by: National Data Distribution Center (NDDC)

April 1, 2009

Atlanta Georgia

The two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille is 
being
celebrated by the US mint with the production of a silver coin 
commemorating
the man who created the modern reading system used by many blind 
people.
Unfortunately, although blind people work and live normal lives, 
they are
still different in many ways and their experiences are a matter 
of curiosity
amongst the sighted population.  For most of us, the question, 
"What is it
like to be blind?," has entered our minds more than once.

Research, some of it useful and much of it not, about how people 
who are
blind perceive the world, abounds.  One of the more interesting 
topics of
study is sexuality among the blind.  The story, goes that blind 
people are
incredible sexual partners--somehow being extremely sensitive to 
their
partners and, being able to stimulate them far more than the 
average person.

Masters and Johnson were so intrigued by this subject that they 
collected
data over several years from those who had had sex with blind 
people.
Surprisingly, what they thought would be myths, turned out to be 
true.  The
results were stunning.  On average, women rated their blind 
partners 9.1 on
a scale of 10.  The average rating was five for sighted partners.

"This research has been duplicated several times," says Author 
Mary Roach,
author of, 2008 best seller, Bonk: the Curious Coupling of 
Science and Sex.
The data hasn't attracted much attention because blindness is 
such a low
incidence event.  "We usually print things that have broad 
interest.  And,
even though this indicates that blind people are incredibly 
sexual, there
aren't really enough of them to go around."

Comments from sighted partners were astounding.  "He seemed like 
he knew my
soul," from a 23 year old female.  "Her tongue knew just how to 
touch every
part of me if you know what I mean," from a college male.  One 
woman
commented, "The things he could do with his fingers were beyond 
description
in this survey.  It's not that he was built bigger than other 
men, it just
seemed like he touched me inside with it all over,"  she said 
with a shy
smile.

When William Masters was asked, in a 1971 interview, why he 
didn't draw more
attention to these findings he said, "I didn't know anything 
about
blindness.  We were publishing information of general interest 
about
sexuality and this just didn't fit that mold.  Perhaps some day 
researchers
will help us understand why blind people have such incredible 
sexual
capacities and we'll be able to use that information to increase 
the
abilities of others.  Until then, a very few lucky men and women 
will
experience the phenomena of sex with a blind person."

There is a down side to this research.  When interviewed, blind 
people
generally expressed frustration about sexuality.  Broadly 
speaking, they
divided sighted people into three groups.  First is the group who 
simply
want to have sex with them for the thrill and experience of it.  
"We feel
used," was the most common thing reported.  second, was the group 
who simply
couldn't see themselves with a blind husband or wife.  "They want 
to be with
us, but don't see us as fathers and mothers, for example,"  was 
often heard.
the third group were those who "get it" as one blind man put it.  
"They can
see beyond blindness and except us for who we are.  Blindness 
just fades
into the background and becomes another characteristic."

The sad truth is that although blind people work, raise families, 
travel
independently and generally speaking, live normal lives, the 
public
perception is the opposite.  The image of the helpless beggar 
still lurks in
our minds.  Sighted people report that the fear of blindness 
overwelms their
rationality.  "I know that I shouldn't let blindness interfere 
with how I
think about my partner, but, I can't help it," said a young 
college student
engaged to a blind physicist working at NASA.  "Yes, he has 
money, and yes,
he's sexy, and oh, my god, can he please me, if you know what I 
mean.  The
hardest thing is getting over this image of him as a helpless 
blind man.  We
sail, bike ride and horse back ride.  I can't think of anything 
he can't do
except drive, but, I'll admit, the image of a helpless blind man 
still
haunts me.  People look at him with such pity and I just want to 
scream,
"You don't get it you fools.""  But she admits that making the 
decision to
mary is difficult.

Chad, a young blind college student says he finds the whole sex 
thing a bit
distracting.  "Sure I can please women more than my sighted 
friends can, and
frankly, it's because they just don't pay attention to women and 
what their
bodies and hearts are saying.  Women will tell you everything you 
need to
know if you just listen and feel."

We give you all of this information with the caviat that perhaps 
only one in
six thousand people is an eligible blind man or woman, so, happy 
searching.

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