Published : 2024-12-19

“I Almost Forgot What it Was…” – Femininity in the Perspective of Women with Long-Term Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Despite a noticeable increase in interest in gender themes in disability studies, it is difficult to find explorations of perspectives on femininity in the context of long-term physical disability. The aim of this study was to find out how women with long-term spinal cord injury define their femininity and what it consist of. The participants were 12 women with long-term spinal cord injury aged 28-55 years. A qualitative approach was used. The data collection method was an in-depth individual interview. Interviews were conducted in eastern Poland. The analysis of the collected data indicates that the respondents, when defining their femininity, first pointed to personality traits, supplementing their statements with elements related to external appearance as secondary ones. Respondents constructed their definitions based on (universal and personal) attributes of femininity. They stressed the importance of having a disability in expressing their femininity and emphasised the lack of major differences between them and non-disabled women, highlighting the differences created by society. The respondents took it for granted that every woman (including those with disabilities) is capable of performing feminine (gender-assigned) roles. 

Keywords:

long-term spinal cord injury, femininity, women with disabilities, physical disability



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Roczniki Pedagogiczne · ISSN 2080-850X | eISSN 2544-5243 · DOI: 10.18290/rped
© Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II

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