Nothing Instinctive About It: Revealing and Resisting Normative Constructions of Sex in Autistic Sexual Narratives

Abstract

This chapter analyzes autistic sexual narratives through a queer/crip framework, interrogating ableist and heteronormative discourses rather than positioning disabled and queer bodies as the problem. This study asked: How are autistic sexual narratives shaped by, and how do they expand upon, normative constructions of sexuality? Using narrative analysis, I examined how autistic people narrate and interpret their everyday sexual experiences through online storytelling on the online platform Reddit. I found that through strategies, such as finding solidarity with autistic peers, taking advantage of sensory differences, engaging in bondage, discipline (or domination), sadism, and masochism, and implementing creative communication, autistic people engage in sexuality in ways that resist and expand upon normative discourses of sexuality and deficit-based models of autism.