Ria Basu
Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India
The attitude of the Indian society towards Disability has been one of discontent, scorn and contempt. Such individuals are rarely or never included within the periphery of a so called ‘able’ ‘fit’ ‘normal’ society. Consequently, their desires, wishes or longings are never considered to be substantial or worth consideration. Disability therefore can be pitted against the same parameters as far as the understanding of taboo is concerned. The Disabled have been exerting their presence through direct action in the present times. Use of Blockades, protests, pickets and occupational symbols have been made in order to voice their opinion of all kinds, primarily sexual. Gone are the days when the television would be abounding of analogies like that of ‘Manthara’ and ‘Shakuni’. Movies like ‘The Sessions’ (2012), ‘Margarita with a Straw’ (2014), talks openly about the desires of these individuals which need to be compulsorily addressed. Therefore, they are now ‘coming out’ to talk about their expression of sexual identity demanding a much-awaited acceptance and normalisation. In this aspect, it would not be incorrect to say that there is a common theme which connects Disability and sexuality- sexual cravings, desires and wants also have never received the opportunity of being accepted openly in the Indian society. Although scientifically proven to be one of the most natural of all human impulses the fact of its un-acceptance serves as a great paradox. The working definition of sexuality as provided by World Health Organisation is as follows, “Sexuality is a central aspect of being human throughout life and encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy and reproduction.”
Disability scholars Tom Shakespeare, Kath Gillespie-Sells and Dominic Davies describe about the Social model of Disability in their book, The Sexual Politics of Disability: Untold Desires which has constantly been attaching this idea of sexuality to the individual. The person does not function outside the periphery of being disabled-therefore reducing it to be a major flaw of his existence. The social model suggests that people with impairment are disabled by society, not by their own bodies. Therefore, the idea of sexuality is built around their pre-conceived notions, ideas and concepts rather than any scientific background. “This radical re-interpretation shifts the site of the problem from the disabled person, whose body does not work, to society, which is unprepared to accept disabled people.” (2, 1996) The amendment according to this model is required to be brought about in the people who are dealing with them rather than the disabled individuals themselves. The Social Model of Disability re-locates the problem to the people misinterpreting disability rather than the disabled person himself. Tools, methods and ideas lack in this society which can deal with their issues and address their needs. Another prevalent idea is that of the Medical Tragedy Model, which diminishes the disabled to be weak, fragile and their sexuality is either non-existent or if at all existing- a serious problem. The American writer Milton Diamond has discussed about the morbidity of the society to deal with sexual issues of the disabled. Among all the issues that they deal with, sexual needs rank last. ‘While they recognize that these art valid issues, they generally wish the sexual concerns to be ignored; they want them to sort of “go away”, since they are ill, at ease dealing with them, and don’t really know how to handle the issues’ (Diamond, 1984:210).
This paper wishes to establish the grounds of interpreting sex as perceived by a ‘mentally disabled’ individual- Bibi, the protagonist of the short story ‘The Treatment of Bibi Halder’ written by Jhumpa Lahiri. The Disability act 2005 set out the definition of disability as, ‘Disability in relation to a person, means a substantial restriction in the capacity of the person to carry on a profession, business or occupation in the state or to participate in social and cultural life in the state by reason of an enduring physical, sensory mental health or intellectual impairment.’
Epilepsy is defined to be a neurological disorder whose exact causes still remain unknown. Epilepsy can have both genetic and acquired causes. The character of Bibi can be said to be suffering from congenital Epilepsy; therefore, a thin line exists between Bibi being disabled and diseased. No scientific or medical artefact has deemed epileptic individuals to be unfit for sex as a means of recreation or procreation. On the other hand, the Indian society has not been very welcoming to the concept of Sex Education. Needless to say, people with disabilities whose conditions are worse than ‘perfectly-abled individuals’ lack sex education- the common ‘crowd’ is of the view that all who are disabled are asexual and as we can simultaneously conclude- such a social construction is nothing but a farce. Bibi is no exception to the presence of such illogical ideas that are being harnessed by the society. She is considered to lack basic rationality and logical ability possessed by her sex belonging to the same cultural background,
“The girl knows nothing about anything, speaks backward, is practically thirty, can’t light a coal stove, can’t boil rice, can’t tell the difference between a fennel and a cumin seed. Imagine her attempting to feed a man! (163).” The protagonist is reduced from the existence of a human too. She is neither a woman, neither a human-but a burden on life and society. Women’s Health Training Research and Advocacy Cell (WOHTRAC), based in Vadodara, Gujarat has been working since 1992 to promote a holistic perspective and a wider definition of Women’s health. From its years of experience of working on issues of women’s health especially reproductive health, WOHTRAC found that disabled women do not feature in the Women’s Health Discourse.
The introduction of the story gives the readers an idea that the protagonist is being described with a pathogenic impression. It shows that the character is nothing other than the disability. Her ailment is attached to the article ‘an’ indicating its nature to be obscure. But her identity revolves around it. Her difficult to interpret disease had led her to be confined in an enclosed space making her appear as a ‘tamed’ animal who can escape into animosity and banality if brought out in the open:
“Her daily occupation consisted of sitting in the storage room on the roof of our building, a space in which one could sit, but not comfortably stand, for her services Bibi received no income but was given meals, provisions, and sufficient meters of cotton at every October holiday to replenish her wardrobe at an expensive tailor.”(159)
Though this theme and the fact that she longs to marry and lead a family prevails from the very beginning. The paraphernalia and the idea of marriage is constantly being repeated by Bibi and the craving just cannot be ignored. The wedding pictures of the other woman are cherished by her making her picturise herself in their roles. She has observed the common roles played by a house-wife and internalised them imagining her opportunity to perform the chores. With so much of desires present in the character, the paradox lies in the fact that the possession of these desires are deemed ‘abnormal’ or illogical’ in the case of Bibi. Her seizures comprised of her frustration or inability to make people understand her innermost feelings: “Is it wrong to envy you, all brides and mothers, busy with lives and cares? Wrong to want to shade my eyes, scent my hair? To raise a child and teach him sweet from sour, good from bad?’’ (pg-160)
The character Bibi is a symbol of dual oppression of both disability and sexism in a male dominated patriarchal structure. Her powerlessness is greater as she is a ‘disabled woman.’ She is not included or considered a part of the family. To borrow a term from Garland-Thomson’s - Bibi belongs to a disenfranchised and excluded group. The primary theme of the text is the plight and anxiety of the female subaltern as it follows the aftermaths of the globalization process in the life of a native Indian woman who is a victim of both destitution and homelessness.
In a 2017 paper, ‘Sexual Rights of Women with Psychosocial Disabilities: Insights from India’, the author notes:
In the contexts of persons living with mental illness, some of the stereotypes include hyper sexuality, promiscuity, disinhibition and inappropriate sexual expression. Some of the primary motives of sex include marriage as cure of illness, as source of unpaid long-term care, assurance for old age and so on. Disabled women are not simply regarded as women-they are encouraged to be child-like and apologetic towards able-bodied society, which judges them as being better dead than alive.
Eva Figes (1930-2012), an English feminist in her book, Patriarchal Attitude challenges the myth that motherhood is fulfilling and criticises both Freudian Analysis and the institution of marriage. The manner in which female identity was constructed was dependant more on the societal structure rather than the inherent biological traits. Therefore, Bibi’s constant desire to be married can definitely be interpreted as the usual longing of a 29-year-old Indian woman to want sexual gratification. She laments the fact that she lacks sexual reciprocation and desire: “ Where do I go, who would I dress for?” she demanded. “Who takes me to the cinema, the zoo-garden, buys me lime soda and cashews? Admit it, are these concerns of mine? I will never be cured, never married,” In the story, ‘motherhood’ is emphasized rather than the fulfilment of sexual desires. The former process can be easily proclaimed to be the resultant process of the latter. But motherhood is not all that this woman desire, sexual satisfaction and love she affirms are followed by it.
Throughout the story, Bibi expresses a strong desire to be married and to give vent to her repressed sexual and emotional needs. Whether this is a personal need or the need to belong to the communal identity, of course remains unknown. The community appears to have a female voice as the story is narrated in the 1st person and the original author is female. Lahiri, needless to say, has created a protagonist with unusual will and determination. All through 29 years, this woman has been denied even the commonplace role that a woman plays in the society. She is treated as a burden in her own family-a burden that desperately needs to be eased off as soon as possible. Bibi is different- her neurological disability has separated her from her own family. She is not a part of their existence and no one would like to keep any evidence of her existence.
“Apart from my X-rays I have never been photographed”, she fretted. Bibi’s existence is considered to be devilish and she is conveniently to be erased once she is no more. She engages in an illegitimate relationship (the legitimacy and illegitimacy of sexual relations are determined by society too) and bears an illegitimate child. Her sexual and emotional wants are gratified for the 1st time and consequently Bibi is cured. Her fulfilment of sexual needs earns her a place of social inclusion also within the society. In a country like India, fulfilments of sexual desires are not openly accepted until and unless ‘motherhood’ comes along with it. Several interpretations of the tale present the fact that probably Bibi had undergone a sexual assault but such a hint is not left by the author. What was worth taking into consideration is that Bibi was now a responsible, self-dependable identity. “Within a month, Bibi had recuperated from the birth, and with the money that Halder had left her, she had the storage room white-washed, and placed padlocks on the windows and doors.” (172)
The society determines the characteristics of the sexual partner too. Since she suffers from a neurological disorder, therefore she cannot be found worthy of a ‘suitable’ man’s desire. Her motherhood is believed to have arrived due to ‘disgrace’. The suspects needless to say, range from the lower sections of the society. Throughout the story, we see that Bibi is considered ‘sick’ as she suffers from epilepsy. Also, this sickness arises from the fact that she has never been able to attract the opposite sex or prove her ability to serve as a sexual partner. Disabled Bibi appears to perform all societal duties in a proper manner once she encounters sexual satisfaction. ‘Sexual Relations and Motherhood’ end up being the antidote for a girl who remains sick all her life. “In this manner she raised the boy and ran a business in the storage room, and we did what we could to help.”(172).
The ‘disability’ leads Bibi to become the ‘other’ in the household. The disability is nothing but basically the reasons why Bibi is unable to be included into the ethnic cultural code. This ‘other’ has no room for desiring or being desired. The author describes Bibi as ‘’she was not pretty. Her upper lip was thin, her teeth too small. Her gums protruded when she spoke.” She is a source of disgust, abject and horror. The identity-crisis for the protagonist arouses when Bibi wants to discover a new identity by embracing the gender codes of the other. She wishes to walk forward and discover her own sexual cravings but once she does so she happens to create a hybrid identity of herself, thus eventually curing herself in the process. The protagonist, Bibi, displays ‘mental retardation therefore making her socio-culturally deprived. The story is placed against lower-middle class Indian surroundings. It is also interesting to note that Bibi seems to represent- ‘Freud’s theory of conversion hysteria’-where Freud talks about the occurrences of various bodily disturbances due to presence of repressed and unused sexual energy. Therefore the doctor’s advice of marriage seem to have taken everybody by surprise: “A case of over excitement, they say”-and here we paused, blushing-“relations will calm her blood.”(162)
The story begins with the depiction of a maltreated 29 year old epileptic girl and ends with a woman who establishes her sexuality by her own agency- transforming into a mother, independent woman and an entrepreneur. In-fact she is treated as a sexless object before the doctor makes the suggestion of marriage as a treatment. “They, imagined the contours below her house coat, and attempted to appraise the pleasures she could offer a man.’’(162) There lies a prominent difference between the other stories in this collection of the author and that of ‘The Treatment of Bibi Halder’.
Bibi shares a diasporic identity- not because of her geographical location, but because she suffers from an unknown illness and that condemns her to confine to “the storage room on the roof of our building.” She has never been sexually conditioned as that is not meant for the disabled. She is uprooted from the communal identity the one which the society gives an individual. She exists as an element of no-where living out of core that binds. “Bibi had never been taught to be a woman; the illness had left her naive in most practical matters.” She was kept away from all family objects and belongings as it was believed she had a negative, demolishing and destructive impact to render to all things bright and beautiful. The author does not disclose the reason behind the birth of the child, leaving it entirely on the reader to proclaim it to be an issue of rape or consensual sex. How we come to a conclusion symbolises our own understanding of the sexual lives of the disabled.
To conclude I would like to talk about Yvon Appleby, the educational psychologist who in his works opposes Adrienne Rich’s idea of ‘compulsory heterosexuality’ which has no mention of ‘the disabled women’. “The Pressures on Disabled woman to engage in heterosexual practice operate differently from those to which able-bodied women are subjected. Disabled women are particularly at risk of (hetero) sexual abuse and rape, while they are generally not considered to have any sexual feeling or functions (motherhood) and are therefore considered to be less than female.” Sexuality is often the source of our deepest oppression; it is also often the source of our deepest pain. It’s easier for us to talk about and formulate Strategies for changing-discrimination in employment, education, and housing than to talk about our exclusion from sexuality and reproduction.
Even if there has been a talk about sexual needs, the men have put on the fore-front but women have been eradicated from this consideration. Bibi falls in this category of being a non-existent, non-desirous entity worthy of no such sexual identification. The women feature nowhere on socially being useful or worthwhile. Neither are they deemed useful for ‘mundane household chores’ nor ‘procreation and motherhood’. Even if marriage or togetherness comes into picture, it arises out of pity, compassion or large-heartedness from the other. Anything, but desire and love. The idea of disabled individuals engaging in sexual union or love-making appears revolting or disgusting to the society. Bibi, to the surprise of her society emerges as a warrior, a self- healer and a rebel in this aspect.
References:
- Figes, Eva. Patriarchal Attitude: Women in Society. New York: Persea Books, 1987.
- Ranade, Ketki. ‘Sexual Rights of Women with Psychosocial Disabilities: Insights from India’. Anjali Mental Health Rights Organisation. (2017).
- Rich, Adrienne. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Eds. Henry, Abelove, Michèle. Aina Barale and David M. Halperin. New York and London: Routledge, 1993. 227-254.
- Shakespeare, Tom, Kath Gillespie-Sells & Dominic Davies Eds. The Sexual Politics of Disability: Untold Desires. London: Cassell, 1996.
