[stylist] interesting Background info for a good blindness story

Wed Apr 4 21:42:57 UTC 2012

Really
--- I like it, the joke. 
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of David Andrews
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 2:34 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] interesting Background info for a good blindness
story

It was an April Fool's Day joke.

Dave

On 4/4/2012 8:42 AM, Robert Leslie Newman wrote:
> I got this article from the NFBTalk list: the subject line read- 
> Blindness and sexuality
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
>
>
> Robert Leslie Newman
>
> Personal Website-
>
> Adjustment To Blindness And Visual impairment
>
> http//www.thoughtprovoker.info
>
> NFB Writers' Division, president
>
> http://www.nfb-writers-division.net
>
> Chair of the NFB Communications Committee
>
>
>
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