International Sociological Association XV World Congress of Sociology Brisbane, Australia July 7-13, 2002

Tittle of the Paper

The Amputee Body Desired: Beauty Destabilised? Disability Re-valued?

The paper is work in progress and comments are welcome Author: Per Solvang University of Bergen, Norway [email protected]

Thematic Group: TG 03 The Body in the Social Science Programme Coordinator: Bianca Maria Pirani The Amputee Body Desired: Beauty Destabilised? Disability Re-valued? By Per Solvang The body is a discursive reality. It is a site for the production of meaning. One meaning produced is that of deviance, or difference. The means of production are located in the interactions of the human sciences and the ideas of mainstream culture. Science measures and counts, while mainstream culture fears the unknown and longs for stability. Through an exchange relation they establish the discourse of normality and differentiate normal and deviant bodies. In this way, bodies have become a site of political struggle over what is normal and what is not normal (Terry and Urla 1995, Shildrick and Price 1996, Thomson 1997) The disabled body is an important construct in the discourse of normality. On an existential level, this body represents the undesirable. It is a threat to the wholeness of the self (Shildrick 2002). As a subject out of place and a threat to the order of things, bodies labelled disabled are rejected and feared (Hahn 1988b). On a sociological level, the concept of disability is rooted in two constructs of the welfare state-inability to participate in working life and medical pathology. In a welfare state, the disabled are singled out as needy, in a system that supports those not capable of independence (Stone 1984). In sum, this makes the disabled body an unwanted state, an object for rejection or rehabilitation. The view of the disabled body as pathological and unwanted is challenged in two ways. In Disability Studies, the British social model writers point out that disability is not primarily a medical condition but an economical, political and cultural suppression. They understand disability as a state of subordination shared with ethnic minorities, disadvantaged social classes, gay and lesbian people, and women. Disability is not primarily a bodily state to be normalised and rehabilitated (Oliver 1990, Barnes and Mercerer 1996). The other challenge to the pathological view focuses on the possible aesthetic and intellectual value of disability. Several examples of this trend can be identified. Neurological conditions such as dyslexia and Tourette syndrome are recognised as closely linked to abilities such as spatial thinking and creativity (Davis 1995, Vermorel 1996). Physical deformities are given attention in marketing and photography as representing difference (Kuppers 2000). Here, difference does not indicate pathology, but instead the special uniqueness of the self that is highly prized within contemporary culture (Giddens 1991). A radical position, which may be subsumed under the trend of valuing disability, is that of the amputation admirer. This is a category of people divided into three subgroups. First, there are the devotees. This group comprises, mostly, men who have a strong desire for romantic and sexual relations with, mostly, women amputees. Secondly, there are the pretenders, who use wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, etc., to feign disability. The third subgroup is the 'wannabes,' who have a strong wish to amputate one or more parts of their bodies. In February 2000, this phenomenon became the centre of a debate in Britain when a surgeon at a private clinic in Scotland conducted leg amputations on two wannabe amputees. Amputation admirers first appeared in contact advertisements as men seeking romantic and sexual relationships with women amputees (Riddle 1989). Secondly they were recognised, initially, as case descriptions in psychiatry. The devotees were assigned the diagnosis of acrotomphilia, and the wannabes labelled with apotemnophilia. Thirdly, the amputation admirers have been recognised by disability organisations. These organisations have a reluctant, and often hostile attitude towards this desire, labelling it as a perversion. Finally, the people in this group are trying to normalise themselves. They see their desire in terms of generally understood relationships between certain female body characteristics, such as large breasts and red hair,

and corresponding male desires. In this, they are supported and welcomed by a significant group of amputee women. The wannabes see their interests in the same light as body modifications such as piercing and tattoo. Some wannabes are even defining their desire as one variation on altering the body through the practice of aesthetic surgery. An important issue in the admiration field is the relation between devotees and women with amputations. Here, the negative valuation of the disabled body is potentially challenged by social relations between the disabled and the non-disabled, and provides a sharp focus on how disability is constructed as a relation between body and society. The key questions raised are: what social tensions do devotees enter when they display their desire for the disabled body, and what representations of the disabled body come into play when amputee women respond to this desire? These questions will be explored principally through the hegemonic understanding of the disabled body. The paper will contribute to a challenge of the naturalistic conception of disability as a bodily defect.

The Disabled Body Theorised The body is not a given, unchanging natural quantity that is interpreted within society. Rather, the body is socially constructed, even when labelled as reality (Thomson 1997, Shildrik 2002). In disability studies, two discourses defining the disabled body are identified. The first is founded in modernist thinking and defined by the keyword, normality. The second, founded in postmodernist thinking, is defined by the keyword, difference. Two examples are summed up in Table 1. Table 1. Normality and Difference Model

Modernist discourse Oliver Stiker

Normality Rehabilitation

Postmodernist discourse

Purpose of discussion

Difference

Mobilisation for political struggle

Difference

Difference as a road to human life

Mike Oliver (1990, 1992) has introduced the question of normality or difference, from a Marxist perspective, in considering the disabled as a suppressed group. The disabled are suppressed both by medical discourse defining them as bodily defective and dependent, and by economic institutions defining the disabled as unsuitable to participate in working life. He relates this suppression to the concept of normality. The concept of difference, according to Oliver, points in utopian directions. The disabled themselves seek recognition for being different and claim their right to live their lives as full citizens. They are not disabled, but differently abled. Difference or normality is a key question also for Stiker (1999). He points out that the obsession of modern society with normality defines the disabled as secondary citizens in need of support to achieve the norm. He challenges rehabilitation ideology as a ruling principle for policies on the disabled. With reference to pre-modern perceptions of disability, in the first edition of his book Stiker nominates the anti-psychiatry movements as a promising empirical case that makes a potential contribution to understanding disability through difference. An essential part of Stiker's book is the normative standpoint he takes in favour of difference. He clearly states the celebration of difference as a road to human life, and that the passion for similarity is a potential for social violence leading to repression and rejection. In the field of disability, this brings his analysis into close proximity with Mike Oliver's question: 'Normality or difference?' (1982: 24). In a much broader social field, his perspective is also related to Zygmunt Bauman's (1991) critical analyses pointing to modernity as the era of standardisation and similarity, which also led to the Holocaust, and to postmodernity as an emerging era possibly dominated by the slogan 'Difference is beautiful!' The location of disability between normality and difference is also pointed out in feminist theory. One form of normality/deviance orientation is the focus on the male heterosexual gaze as representing the humiliation and stigmatisation of the disabled female body. The female able body is identified as an object for desire and the disabled body as an object of disgust: 'If the male gaze makes the normative female a sexual spectacle, then the stare sculpts the disabled subject into a grotesque spectacle. The stare is the gaze intensified, framing her body as an icon of deviance' (Thompson 1997: 26). In this perspective the disabled woman is a deviation from the aesthetic norm, and a male gaze re-sexualising the disabled body is likely to be a deviation also. The status as an icon of deviance will make all desire into a perversion. The female body is also perceived as a possibility for change. In a discussion of plastic surgery, Morgan (1991), inspired by Butler's concept of gender performatives, develops the utopian idea that female bodies could be an arena for transformation, parody and protest. One possible strategy, according to Morgan, is to destabilise the beautiful by demanding ugliness. Her examples include creams to wrinkle skin and surgery for pulling breasts down. The able-bodied woman suggesting ugliness is in a different situation to the female amputee, but the amputee body is also a possible arena for destabilising the beautiful. An alliance between amputee women and devotees could be a way of accomplishing a goal of destabilisation. Ugliness has always held its own fascination, it's own kind of splendour (Morgan 1991). In the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries, the freak show was a site for the display of spectacular bodies, many of which it was possible to label ugly (Bogdan 1988). The freak is a historical figure made out of certain bodies. In the freak show era, people with disabled bodies had to present themselves to a public in order to receive an income. In the developed welfare state, the disabled must present the body for ability measurement in order to receive support (Goffman 1968, Stone 1984, Thomson 1996). In the beauty-fixated culture of late modernity, amputee women are presented with the possibility of displaying themselves without prostheses to a

small group of men desiring their stump(s), but at the same time risking being labelled as a women giving themselves over to sexual perverts. The freak show as a social relation is not eradicated by the humane late modern welfare state, but rather transformed into new social forms. In many cultures people disable themselves, for example the famous mutilated lips among Ubange women; the widespread piercing and tattooing among western youth can also be seen as body mutilation. In this way, there is a cultural potential for appreciation of a wide range of body forms. Harlan Hahn (1988a) raises the question of whether disability can be beautiful. His answer is yes, with reference to the examples mentioned above. According to Hahn, it is important to 'cultivate a heightened aesthetic appreciation of anatomical variations (Hahn 1988a: 223). This will imply a rejection of conformist visions of beauty (Peters 2000), and a provision of greater possibilities for appreciation of the disabled body. One such possibility is found in the relation, devotee-female amputee; but to what extent does it represent such an appreciation?

How the devotees were studied I have two empirical sources for understanding the devotee phenomenon, the reactions to it, and the relations between amputee women and devotees. The first source is the Internet. Those involved in the field have established a considerable number of web sites, two of which are of special importance. The first is d-links. It is regularly updated and revised, and it reviews most known net sites of relevance. It has received fewer updates lately. A supplement site, devguide has been established. I have conducted a short review of both sites. Some of the linked sites were evaluated to present valuable material for my research questions. From these I made printouts of the most relevant parts. Some of the linked web sites had links themselves, and I have followed up on the most interesting of these. Also, some magazines dealing with general disability issues have proved to contain valuable material, especially on the voices of disabled women. The second main website for information on the devotee issue is Overground. It is a former paper journal that is now only published on the Internet. It contains articles and commentaries of high quality, some of them written by people obviously with academic training. The texts are mostly signed by pseudonyms. My second source is fieldwork conducted at gatherings for amputation admirers. In Europe these are rare. At present I have attended only one in the Summer of 2001 in the south of France. The Belgium based website Ampulove initiated this gathering. It turned out to be a kind of false announcement, and the six of us that showed up had to conduct our own gathering. Most of the men attending here were devotees only. We talked together in various groupings one afternoon and evening. I clearly stated that I was a sociologist wanting to write about devotees from a Disability Studies perspective. None had any objections to this, and after the meeting I established an e-mail exchange with one of the devotees. I found participation in gatherings important for several reasons. Firstly, it is valuable to communicate face-to-face, and to observe group interaction. It provides richer material for analyses than comparable written communication using net resources. Secondly, it is important to have a dialogue on the quality of Internet material with people in the field. Thirdly, those personally involved have a good knowledge about sources of information and debate, and turned out to be valuable guides, both on how to survey the net and on studies that have been published.

The normality of the devotee Devotees present themselves as preoccupied with amputated bodies from an early age. Dixon (1983) reports a survey in which 70% of devotees reported having had their first awareness of the attraction before the age of 15. Devotees often refer to childhood experiences they believe to be relevant to their attraction. One devotee I met at a gathering referred to his mother having an affair with a man with an amputation. Another was born with six fingers on one hand, having one of them routinely removed. They did not place significance on these possible influences and instead took for granted their present attraction to female amputees and their willingness to meet other devotees. The devotees believe themselves to be a gift to heterosexual amputee women. In attempting to address questions from amputee women about their attitudes, they point out the match between the two. Why be upset or disgusted if someone finds you more attractive as an amputee? It's better then being less attractive, and it must be nice, for a change, to meet someone who will never ever say 'Apart from that, she's very attractive." (from introduction to Overground web site, signed by J. and Paul) Some even refer to the coupling of devotees and amputee women as a gift from God. When amputees are brought into the world, devotees are also there. This establishes a balance, a social order where people feel valued. The social order in question is where the body is a locus of power for women. The keyword to this power is beauty (Morgan 1991). The primacy of aesthetic beauty in contemporary culture is especially important for women. Liberated from domestic life, women are now faced with the beauty myth as a new mechanism of control (Wolf 1991). Beauty gives women access to valued roles, such as those of wife, mother and lover (Fine and Asch 1981). Disabled women tend to be denied access to these roles because of a lack of beauty, and devotees point to this situation as substantiation of what they believe is the potentially radical alternation of the disadvantages of ugliness.

The devotees are well aware of the negative criticisms they encounter, but they turn them back against their antagonists: 'So if you believe that devotees are disgusting this logically entails that you believe amputees must also be' (Overground web site, signed by J). By posing this rhetorical question, devotees make visible, and demand reflection on, how hostile reactions to them are grounded in the devaluation of the disabled body that is inherent in our culture. Normalisation as a life-orientation among the disabled is questioned by devotees, and is a central issue to critical perspectives in the Disability Studies literature. They see the celebration of normality as a rejection of disability. It represents a discourse where the disabled body is a defect that must either be prevented or rehabilitated (Solvang 2000). This discourse prepares the ground for the super normal disabled by stressing their normality and ability. According to Disability Studies writers, this causes a lot of stress and tension in the lives of disabled persons, to the extent of representing an unhealthy compromise identity (Shakespeare 1996). In perspectives on disability alternatives to normalisation, the disabled body is argued to represent a difference, not a deviance. It is important to live in difference and to value differently-abled lives (Solvang 2000, Shakespeare 1996, Stiker 1999). The devotees also represent the difference of the disabled body as something unique and valuable. One example is relating devotee desire of the amputee body to stamp collection: the occasional misprinted stamp is considered a special find, and is often worth a lot more than a normal stamp of the same design - in much the same way I feel about that rare woman who happens to be physically unique in her own special way. (Website of David Cole.) To me 'normality' is the probable equivalent of 'pretty-boring-indeed,' being very conventional myself in all aspects of my life and body appearance, this might be an element of my attraction towards amputees and disabled persons in general. The struggle of the disabled persons, and amputees in particular, to look, live and 'be' as normal as possible is a wonder to me, but it's a fact. There is a social pressure and an imposed vision of what we 'have' to be that causes terrible damages in the well being of mankind in general. (Overground web site, in answer to a question in an unsigned interview with Vera Little) To some degree, the devotee scene represents a wish to reconstruct disability as a socially valuable foil to the standardisation of normality. The celebration of difference is not consistently pursued. The devotees encourage difference orientation among the disabled, but argue for their own orientation to be included as normal. A common way of arguing normality is through a comparison with other bodily attractions that are considered to lie within the range of normal attractions. It is commonly accepted that many men are attracted to women with large breasts or long slender legs, or lustrous blonde hair: however, other men are equally drawn to very petite women, women with dark hair, or wide hips. Some men are drawn sexually to other men. These and many other variations of sexual attraction are well known and usually accepted. The fact that some men (and women) are attracted to individuals who are missing one or more limbs is less well known but no less definite. (Website of David Cole.) In this way, the devotees are ambivalent about the question of normality or difference. They represent both perspectives. Disability (and to some extent also devoteeism) is pointed out as something unique and special, but when it comes to their own position, being part of the ordinary seems to be of prime importance. This is a tension found in many groups labelled deviant. Among homosexuals, for example, some represent the straight gays, copying heterosexual lifestyle, and some label themselves queer and celebrate the uniqueness of being homosexual by taking part in parades. In the case of the devotee scene, the issue is more complex, where two groups labelled deviant are involved and interacting. Social groups that represent behaviours or bodies labelled as a problem for social order tend to be medicalised. Their states are understood in terms of illness and treatment is provided within a medical regime (Conrad and Schneider 1992). This has also happened to the devotees. The most intellectual sites on the Internet are strongly opposed to this, and demand the right of the condition of being a devotee not to be labelled as a psychiatric condition, as expressed on one site defining central concepts of the devotee scene. Psychiatrist: A person who on being informed that someone finds amputees sexually attractive, is a devotee, informs him, in return for a fat fee, that he is an acrotomophiliac. Also known as a shrink because he (usually he) is concerned with shrinking the variance of human feelings and desires to some norm, and treating those who differ from the average as though they were ill. (Overground web site, unsigned.) Other devotees have a more open attitude to psychiatry. Many have been in psychotherapy, and there is a great interest in studies on amputation admiration. This was the case with the devotees I met at the gathering. Another example is the Ampulove site that makes available everything on the subject of amputation admiration that is not directly hostile. This includes articles published in scientific psychiatry journals. Another important way of relating to normal desire is insisting on the romantic side of the attractions that devotees feel. I may be attracted to an amputee in the same way that another guy is attracted to, say, a women with a big bosom, but I doubt that he would have the same intense feelings of tenderness and caring as I would toward the subject of my interest. (Website of David Cole.)

When meeting the devotees at the gathering I attended, I was surprised by the romantic way they spoke of amputee women. There were many stories of how to get in contact with an amputee woman on the street, but the main theme was the longing for a romantic relationship with a woman who fulfilled their ideas of the ideal female body. Devotees often attempt to become involved in social arenas that involve amputees. One can often find suggestions that devotees are found among rehabilitation professionals such as prosthetists, but I have not found any reliable reports on this in my research on the Internet and other sources. Another way of contacting amputees is to seek out disability sports competitions. This was reported by several of the participants at the gathering I attended, and is often found in stories published on the net. In early 1984, I experienced a terrific day of stimulation and exhilaration. I participated in the California Handicapped Skiers' Foundation Celebrity Ski Challenge …. Lo and behold, I saw and eventually met two of the loveliest young ladies I have known, in the persons of Michelle and Becky. Both girls are SAK [Single leg amputation Above Knee], with short stumps that were tantalisingly revealed in their skin-tight ski outfits. (Ampulove web site, signed The Wizard.) When the deviant body is brought up as a theme, the (lacking) extremities represent difference, and the other parts of the body are mostly presumed to be normal. To press the issue a bit, this is a relation between the ugly and the beautiful. The devotee represents the gaze of male heterosexual desire, and the most beloved body is the otherwise beautiful young woman with a single above-knee amputation and no prosthesis, preferably dressed in short skirts. One of the men I met at the gathering had some reflections on the issue. He was clearly interested in the young and otherwise beautiful. He believed that the aesthetic core of a person embodied both 'the beauty and the beast.' The focus on the young and beautiful in the devotee scene adds to its limited subversive potential. Apart from its focus on amputee women, it otherwise promotes the hegemonic standards of beauty according to the heterosexual male gaze. The devotees promote a project of the disabled as different only to a certain degree, and themselves as normalised. The devotees oppose the disabled striving for normality and the use of prostheses. 'Be different because we love you the way you are!' However, the promotion of difference stops there, and standard conceptions of beauty take over. Their own position is normalised by opposing both the psychiatric acrotomophilia diagnosis and popular conceptions of perversion, comparing their attractions to widely accepted attractions to specific parts of the body, and insisting on their romantic intentions when seeking contact.

The possibility of aesthetic empowerment Women who experience the interest of men because of their disability react to this in basically two ways. Some women respond negatively and find it disgusting. Other women find the interest of devotees stimulating and flattering. I believe both reactions can be present in one subject, but in the material I have collected, women tend to take one of the two positions when speaking in public. The most markedly hostile attitudes towards devotees have been found in a magazine interview with an amputee counsellor and two (a couple in which only the woman was an amputee) prominent members of the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA). For the ACA, devotees are a debated issue. Several devotees are attending their annual conventions. The couple talk about quarrels that ensued after a devotee approached the woman. They clearly perceived devoteeism as a perversion by comparing it to paedophilia, and rejected the argument for normalisation: Should we say 'Oh the poor things they are so misunderstood. They just want to come out of the closet and be accepted as they are.' Wrong! Devotees use amputees in their fantasies to get themselves off…. just like pedophiles. (Carol Wallace in interview with the website Amputee Online.) Wallace (the amputee counsellor) clearly found the interest disgusting and referred to rude behaviour among devotees touching in inappropriate ways and taking photos of amputees and publishing them on web sites. A main point in the women's hostility is the focus on something which to them is a loss: I am a whole person and I have worked hard to overcome my limb-loss. The last thing I want to deal with is a deviant who gets off on the very thing that caused me such pain. (Gracie Rosenberger, ACA representative, in interview with the website Amputee Online.) Both amputee women in the magazine article underlined their impression that the interest of devotees victimises amputees. They have a great sorrow in their lives, and the last thing they find attractive is a special interest in the very part of the body signifying this sorrow. The ACA representative labels the wannabes as 'people who get off on maimed human bodies.' In this way she underlines the body with amputations as a deviant and unwanted body. One of the women interviewed, Carol Wallace, concluded that living alone is better than being with a devotee. 'We need to educate women that living alone can be just as fulfilling as having a prince charming who uses her for his own needs.' This statement can be interpreted as a reference to the classical role of the de-sexualised disabled woman. The argumentation by the negative female amputees also points to the objectification of the female body. 'If we grew back our

limbs they would be out the door just like someone who watches their cute 38-24-36 grow fat' (Carol Wallace). In this way they link up with the feminist critique of the heterosexual male gaze. The female body tends to be reduced to an object for sexual attraction and cut off from the person living with the body. Scholars in the field of oppression of women have pointed to the Playboy Magazine (June 1987) display of the wheel-chairusing Ellen Stohl. The use of her as nude model can be seen as a liberation of women with disabilities from the stigma of sexual unattractiveness. From a feminist perspective it is pointed out that the pictures are nothing else than mainstream pornography that represents a sexualisation of women's passivity and immobility (Elman 1997). The view that this does not represent a liberation of disabled women is also supported by the comments of the editors of Playboy. They refer to a discussion where the issue of perversion was brought up. The question posed was if the pictures of a disabled woman could 'leave the magazine open to charges of questionable taste.' Their answer was no, because the picture was a mainstream pinup. If they had been visualising the body as disabled, they would have represented perversion, which would have been of no interest to the mainstream aspirations of Playboy Magazine. As far as I know are there only two minor studies that have asked amputee women about their feelings towards devotees. Both papers indicate that the hostile reactions are fewer than reactions of curiosity. Nattress (1993) questioned a self-help group and reported that 'many were shocked and angered; most indicated passing interest.' Brancato (1994) reported similar findings from interviewing fellow amputee women. Observing the hostile reactions, both papers focused on the possible positive outcomes for amputee women being defined as attractive by this group of heterosexual men. A majority of the female amputees interviewed by Nattress and Brancato pointed to the importance of being desired. 'Over and over again, the women indicated that, unless or until they felt good about themselves, they were unable to have meaningful relationships with others, particularly men' (Brancato 1994: 290). Desire is recognised as important for self esteem and the interest of the devotee can be empowering. A woman running a newsletter for devotees is a clear representative of this view (Riddle 1989). Her new boyfriend turned out to be a devotee and she reported that 'I was overjoyed and even elevated to learn that there were actually people in the world who not only could overlook my physical condition but were even attracted by it. I could not have been happier.' Their relationship matured, but his family, friends and work colleagues were not able to understand. This experience points to the fact that mainstream culture seriously questions the attractive male attracted to the female amputee. 'Hey, Buddy, is that the best that you can find?' (Riddle 1989: 9). For women attracted to amputee men more heroic roles are available, i.e., that of a mothering instinct leading to a life in caring for the disabled man. In the US, some organisations have been established to serve the demands of devotees. Amputee women run these and a few of them organise gatherings where amputees and devotees can meet. Several of the organisations produce and distribute pictures of amputee women. The women getting involved in these organisations express a positive development. 'I finally felt I belonged, that I was attractive and even sexy…. I wasn't ashamed to be seen in public anymore.' Some of the women look upon the biggest of the organisations, ASCOT-World (Support Group & Social Club for Amputees or Anyone with a Disability, and their Admirers) as a site of resistance: 'disabled women have wrested control over their sex lives from doctors, psychologists, and, to an extent, the devotees. The women are in control of their own production' (Kafer 2000). The ASCOT-World website represents very much the same views as those of the devotees. They try to normalise the desire by comparing it to other body attractions and stress the importance of the romantic component. Women hostile towards devotees seem to be keen on normalising themselves and point out their limb loss as a signifier of tragic fate. The women representing more positive attitudes point to the consequences of self-esteem. Relating to devotees they feel strengthened in living with a disabled body. This can be interpreted as the strengthening of a discourse of difference in understanding the disabled body: the asymmetric is beautiful. Discussion Hahn (1988b) points out the prime importance of existential and aesthetic anxiety to an analysis of reactions to disability. In their opposition to disabled bodies, able-bodied people are reminded that they too are vulnerable to bodily alteration and dependency. This tends to create anxiety resulting in stigmatising attitudes towards disabled people. The aesthetic anxiety implies that disabled people are devalued because they do not adhere to conventional standards of beauty and normality. They are related to monster images (Shildrick 2002). The aesthetic-sexual aversion to disability in forming relationships tends to permeate society. When studying the devotee phenomenon we find both attempts to alter this cultural order, and attitudes that confirm and strengthen the social order outlined by Hahn. The devotee argument has the intellectual potential to subvert social norms of beauty and normalisation of disability whilst positively supporting modification of social norms to be more inclusive of difference in identity. Both the initial aversion to devotees among amputee women and the psychiatric diagnosis indicating sexual deviance are pointed out as reflecting social norms that devalue the disabled body. Some female amputees are also positive towards the desire of the devotee. They incorporate the desire when striving to develop self-pride and a positive attitude to their bodies. To some extent this is organised by disabled women. On the other side, both devotees and amputee women are embedded in the societal norms that devalue the disabled body. The devotees point out that the relation between beauty and the beast is important in explaining their attraction. Beauty is a relational concept defined against the ugly or the ordinary, and to the devotees this relation is most meaningful when embodied in one person. The enfreakment of both disabled and devotees is also promoted by the devotee scene. Some websites publish scanned articles and links to all material on devotees available that is not directly hostile. They present both the illness construction of psychiatry and popular press coverage as spectacle. In this way, the devotee scene forms an information age freak show.

Amputee women also contribute to mainstream conceptions of disability and beauty. This is the case both when it comes to those hostile towards devotees and those welcoming the devotees. They typify devotees as oppressive and deviant in desiring the part of their body that to them represents tragedy and loss. The hostile amputees want to be loved for everything else but their stump(s). In this way they contribute to the construction of the disabled body as deviant and ugly. Even the possibility of living alone is brought up as a better alternative than the company of a devotee. They totally reject the male devotee gaze, but in doing this they tend to contribute to the construction of the disabled woman as asexual. By confronting mainstream ideas about beauty, women involved with devotees achieve a change in their conception of self (Kafer 2000). This implies that changes in their self-esteem are linked to a very specific desire among some men, which forces them to relate to traditional standards of beauty among the devotees. In other words, the devotee community is not a utopian sphere in which physical appearance is irrelevant. In rejecting the stereotype that disabled women are undesirable, many devotees simultaneously perpetuate hegemonic ideals of beauty. (Kafer 2000.) The most attractive amputee woman is young and good looking. This suggests that the devotee scene has a limited capacity to subvert or alter mainstream concepts of beauty. Neither the devotee men nor the amputee women report any involvement with other groups or organisations. The devotees involve themselves in disability arenas such as conventions, but their goal is primarily to look at and mingle with amputee women. In this way, neither of the two groups can be said to significantly challenge societal norms concerning disability. They represent a site of resistance, but the resistance principally remains on a personal and sub group level. Although interactions of devotees and cooperating amputee women are limited, their engagement represents an important starting point for the formation of alliance partnerships that may alter negative attitudes towards disabled people. Assigning new aesthetic values to the disabled body is increasingly important. As validity is reduced to appearance, and physical beauty and fitness become key symbols of cultural capital, it seems likely that, for impaired people, the exclusionary practices of old will take on new forms. Aesthetic forms of oppression and the struggle against them will be intensified. New ways of struggling against the cultural production of liminality and marginalisation are required. Pride and difference seem to be the concepts/practices that are emerging to serve this end. (Hughes 1999: 166.) The devotee scene has taken steps towards the important goal of achieving pride for the disabled body. The explicit questioning of societal standards of normality and beauty by both devotees and amputee women has potential for altering the negative value given to the disabled body in contemporary culture. This process, together with the subjective aesthetic empowerment experienced by many amputee women, makes the devotee scene an important site for revaluing the disabled body. Devotees simultaneously insist on their own normality and the difference of amputee women. As previously pointed out, this can be interpreted as a contradiction, but it can also be an empowering strategy for heightening an appreciation of disabled people.

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