Duke University Press Sexuality, Disability, and Aging: Queer Temporalities of the Phallus

Drawing on her own experiences with late-onset disability and its impact on her sex life, along with her expertise as a cultural critic, Jane Gallop explores how disability and aging work to undermine one's sense of self. She challenges common conceptions that equate the decline of bodily potential and ability with a permanent and irretrievable loss, arguing that such a loss can be both temporary and positively transformative. With Sexuality, Disability, and Aging, Gallop explores and celebrates how sexuality transforms and becomes more queer in the lives of the no longer young and the no longer able while at the same time demonstrating how disability can generate new forms of sexual fantasy and erotic possibility. Review " Sexuality, Disability and Aging is a vital read for those interested in disability and sexuality as it contributes to indispensable discussions whilst simultaneously offering an alternative framework with which to aid progression within the field. . . . Gallop has compiled an accomplished text which is forward-thinking, unorthodox and paves the way for further discourse within the realms of disability, and for this, she must be commended."--Bev Pollitt "Disability & Society" (6/11/2019 12:00:00 AM) "An inventive and captivating piece of scholarship. Bolstered by its original findings and the intricate theoretical maneuvers that Gallop makes throughout this text, the book is poised to be a valuable resource for scholars in the fields of queer theory, critical gerontology, and disability studies."--Kyle Christensen "Women's Studies in Communication" (2/1/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Overall, Sexuality, Disability, and Aging presents an insightful yet accessible analysis that combines wide-ranging theoretical work with rich interpretive material to carefully reveal the phallic temporalities that underpin contemporary stereotypes of aging and late-onset disability as sexual decline. The book's cross-cutting relevance means that it will find productive readership across a wide range of scholars interested in queer, crip, gerontological, literary, feminist, or psychoanalytic theory."--Kazuki Yamada "Journal of Bodies, Sexualities, and Masculinities" (5/1/2020 12:00:00 AM) "For Gallop, theory offers solace in the face of life's difficulties, and the book is often quietly moving. . . . Her use of theory isn't about blowing up previous thought; it's about finding consolation, which literature or philosophy is often said to provide."--Jeffrey J. Williams "Chronicle of Higher Education" (3/21/2019 12:00:00 AM) Review “Continuing to experiment brilliantly with what critical writing can be and can do, Jane Gallop brings together her career-long concerns with sexuality and gender and gives them a striking new framing in the context of aging and disability studies. At a moment when feminism itself seems to suffer the disregard to which the ‘old’ are consigned, Gallop invests it with the queerness that she locates in aging and disability as well. The result is a major intellectual event and a thoroughly compelling read.” (Lee Edelman, author of No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive) “The disabling effects of aging are most often conceptualized as decline accompanied by a loss of sexual attraction, desire, and potency. Jane Gallop spectacularly refutes this narrative by insisting on the pleasures of perverse sexuality that refuse the once-and-for-all of castration. She teaches and reminds her readers that disabled people have long since decisively queered sex. Clearly and accessibly written, Sexuality, Disability, and Aging can be taught in undergraduate and graduate classrooms in multiple interdisciplinary fields that range from feminist, queer, and crip studies to courses on first-person life narrative.” (Christina Crosby, author of A Body, Undone: Living On after Great Pain) About the Author Jane Gallop is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwauk