Cyzo Magazine By Ryann Connell, from Mainichi Daily News - It’s a fact of life that without the facts of life, there is no life. Period.

Even so, in Japan the issue of sexuality among the disabled is shunned from the public forum and discussion about it is regarded as taboo, one of the many unmentionable issues that Cyzo takes up in its February issue.

“When people hear the word ‘disabled’ the vast majority associate it with words like ‘care’ and ‘help,’ but they never think of ’sex.’ You should see people’s faces when I start talking about sex — it’s like their brains have short-circuited,” Yoshihiko Kumashige, the cerebral-palsy quadriplegic head of Noir — an NPO devoted to discussing sex among disabled — tells Cyzo.

Just because they can’t use their bodies like many others doesn’t mean the disabled aren’t interested in sex. And though they may not speak about it, there is actually Tokyo sex services that cater exclusively to the disabled.

Enjoy Club is one such place and provides oral or hand relief to the disabled.

“We get requests to help out from care workers and local governments,” Enjoy Club’s operator, identified only as a man called Saito-san, tells Cyzo. “If the girl can’t handle the job on her own, I’ll go along and help her out. Otherwise, we offer exactly the same sex services as any other.”

At first sight, it appears as though anybody disabled in Japan can have their sexual frustration sated as long as they’re prepared to foot the bill. But things are never quite as simple as they look when it comes to disabled sex. Those knowledgeable in the issue say the biggest problem within Japanese society appears to lie in the widespread refusal to even acknowledge the existence of sexual desire among the disabled.

“There was a severely disabled couple who had a broad-minded helper who also provided them with ’sexual assistance.’ By that, I mean the helper would undress them and lay them down beside each other naked on a bed. But when the helper quit, the couple were left without anybody at all to help them,” says Kaori Kawai, author of “Sex Volunteer,” a book about sex among the disabled. “You’ll also find some facilities for the mentally disabled banning patients from masturbating at all times, even when they’re alone behind closed doors. And parents let the facilities get away with doing that! Basically, their problem is they haven’t got a clue about when a disabled person becomes sexually aware. It’s a struggle for the parents involved, too.”

Problems become heightened when it comes to sex for disabled women, where the taboo is even stronger, according to the monthly. It’s already hard for many Japanese women to openly discuss sex and opportunities for release for sexually frustrated disabled women are extremely limited. The result, disabled sex advocate Kumashige says, is often taking the easy way out.

“Parents and helpers often say they have enough problems dealing with menstruation among disabled women,” he tells Cyzo. “When it comes to sex, some disabled women have been given no more advice than to have a hysterectomy.” (By )

January 26, 2007