Analysis Of Disability And Sexuality In Margarita With A Straw

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Disability and Sexuality in Margarita with a Straw
Mansi Grover
Email- mansigrover90@gmail.com
9999256075
Ph.D. Research Scholar
Department of English
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India
Abstract: The paper examines the stigma which is attached with a disabled body and its sexual needs. The stigmatization of a disabled body creates a non-disabled heteronormative imaginary that is uncomfortable with a disabled having sexual relations and the contestation increases threefold when it is a homosexual relationship between two disabled women. It also looks at the connection between heterosexuality and able-bodied identity. It tries to analyze the censorship of certain scenes in the film, Margarita with a Straw, directed by Shonali Bose. Through …show more content…

Margarita with a Straw enters the domain where it shows disabled bodies as both subjects and objects of a range of erotic desires and practices. It deals with the portrayal of bisexual identity of a girl, Laila, who has cerebral palsy. Laila is depicted negotiating with her sexuality in an abelist and heteronormative culture where the constant subordination of homosexuality to heterosexuality and disability to able-bodiedness allows heterosexuality and able-bodiedness to be institutionalized as ‘normal’ and anything not abiding with the normative comes under scrutiny. The paper talks about the representation of disability and sexuality in the film and the way in which Laila's impairment adds another layer for the film to come under the scanner of Central Board of Film …show more content…

The subversive undertones in Laila’s character could be read in the scene where Tribes, Laila’s band, wins the DU music contest but she feels miserable when the judge announces that they were awarded only because of her special challenge. When the judge asks for her response, Laila shows her the finger and leaves. Also, through her different sexual encounters, she negotiates a sense of embodiment that challenges the prevailing corpo-normative and hetero-normative standards of femininity and

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