Survey on female devs about preferences and DA partners
Apr 23, 2014 14:51:55 GMT -5
old_dumb_grid, hanabanana, and 1 more like this
Post by Maurine on Apr 23, 2014 14:51:55 GMT -5
(Intermediate) Results
Preference
Primary attraction
Note, that you could pick several options at once.
The average dev doesn't seem to have any significant preference for acquired or congenital DA. Self-harm was mentioned only twice.
Characteristics
70 % of the participants are at least somewhat attracted to scars. 49 % of the participants are attracted to scars. Only one participant considers scars to be unattractive.
Deformities polarise: The majority (46 %) consider them (somewhat) unattractive, but 32 % find them at least somewhat attractive.
30 % are at least somewhat attracted by left-handedness. This is interesting to me, as it is not a disability, but still a little bit of a physical peculiarity. 57 % are neutral towards it though.
Devices
The manual wheelchair is the most popular device by far. 84 % are attracted to it, another 8 % somewhat attracted. Only one participant finds it somewhat unattractive. Nobody considers it to be entirely unattractive.
Crutches are more popular than power wheelchairs:
32 % are (somewhat) attracted to glasses, 54 % feel neutral about them. I don't know if a survey for non-devs would lead to different results.
Disabled partners
65 % of the participants have been in at least one relationship with a disabled man. In the following, all the percentaged data refer to them.
Disabilities
Two thirds of those who have been with a disabled man have dated someone with a SCI.
One sixth have dated amputees.
About one fifth have dated men with other physical disabilities, e.g. CP or SMA.
Only one person has dated a blind man. Two devs have dated deaf men.
Bodily functions and devices
Two thirds of the participants' most recent DA partners have no use of their legs. A quarter of them has strongly restricted use of their legs. This means that more than 90 % of them have a disability that affects their legs.
Almost half of the participants' most recent DA partners have more ore less restricted use of their hands or arms.
This means that about half of those with a disability that affects the limbs are quads (not necessarily SCI), the other half are naturally paras.
Consequently, 65 % use a manual wheelchair, 39 % use a power wheelchair, 9 % use crutches. Some use both a manual and a power wheelchair or both crutches and a manual wheelchair.
About 8 % (13 %) have partners whose respiration is slightly (strongly) affected, but none of them uses a ventilator.
About 13 % have partners whose speech is affected.
The begin of the relationship
70 % met their DA partner online, 9 % on a disability-related event, 22 % somewhere else. Almost all of those who met him online (used to) live more than 1000 km (roughly 620 miles), mostly even more than 2000 km (roughly 1250 miles), apart from him (when they met for the first time).
Perception by the non-dev world
41 % of the participants have been critisised for their devness or their choice of partners. Slightly more than one third of them don't care about these opinions, one third is angry about it, almost one third feels guilty. Note that many participants' devness is known by very few people which reduces the chance of critisism.
Three thirds of those who have been in a relationship with a disabled man have been called "admirable" because of it. One of the participants wrote that she (or he?) was called "not shallow". Funnily, when people find out about our devness, we're suddenly regarded as hopelessly shallow. Some people just don't get that while we're attracted to disability, personality and other aspects of physical appearance are important to us nonetheless. We're just like any other humans after all.
Anyway, there seem to be quite some non-devs who are attracted to the participants' DA partners.
Preference
Primary attraction
SCI | 89 % |
amputation | 64 % |
other DA affecting limbs (e.g. MD, CP) | 35 % |
blindness | 32 % |
deafness | 30 % |
Note, that you could pick several options at once.
The average dev doesn't seem to have any significant preference for acquired or congenital DA. Self-harm was mentioned only twice.
Characteristics
70 % of the participants are at least somewhat attracted to scars. 49 % of the participants are attracted to scars. Only one participant considers scars to be unattractive.
Deformities polarise: The majority (46 %) consider them (somewhat) unattractive, but 32 % find them at least somewhat attractive.
30 % are at least somewhat attracted by left-handedness. This is interesting to me, as it is not a disability, but still a little bit of a physical peculiarity. 57 % are neutral towards it though.
Devices
The manual wheelchair is the most popular device by far. 84 % are attracted to it, another 8 % somewhat attracted. Only one participant finds it somewhat unattractive. Nobody considers it to be entirely unattractive.
Crutches are more popular than power wheelchairs:
(somewhat) attractive | (somewhat) unattractive | |
crutches | 65 % | 16 % |
power wheelchair | 54 % | 30 % |
32 % are (somewhat) attracted to glasses, 54 % feel neutral about them. I don't know if a survey for non-devs would lead to different results.
Disabled partners
65 % of the participants have been in at least one relationship with a disabled man. In the following, all the percentaged data refer to them.
Disabilities
Two thirds of those who have been with a disabled man have dated someone with a SCI.
One sixth have dated amputees.
About one fifth have dated men with other physical disabilities, e.g. CP or SMA.
Only one person has dated a blind man. Two devs have dated deaf men.
Bodily functions and devices
Two thirds of the participants' most recent DA partners have no use of their legs. A quarter of them has strongly restricted use of their legs. This means that more than 90 % of them have a disability that affects their legs.
Almost half of the participants' most recent DA partners have more ore less restricted use of their hands or arms.
This means that about half of those with a disability that affects the limbs are quads (not necessarily SCI), the other half are naturally paras.
Consequently, 65 % use a manual wheelchair, 39 % use a power wheelchair, 9 % use crutches. Some use both a manual and a power wheelchair or both crutches and a manual wheelchair.
About 8 % (13 %) have partners whose respiration is slightly (strongly) affected, but none of them uses a ventilator.
About 13 % have partners whose speech is affected.
The begin of the relationship
70 % met their DA partner online, 9 % on a disability-related event, 22 % somewhere else. Almost all of those who met him online (used to) live more than 1000 km (roughly 620 miles), mostly even more than 2000 km (roughly 1250 miles), apart from him (when they met for the first time).
Perception by the non-dev world
41 % of the participants have been critisised for their devness or their choice of partners. Slightly more than one third of them don't care about these opinions, one third is angry about it, almost one third feels guilty. Note that many participants' devness is known by very few people which reduces the chance of critisism.
Three thirds of those who have been in a relationship with a disabled man have been called "admirable" because of it. One of the participants wrote that she (or he?) was called "not shallow". Funnily, when people find out about our devness, we're suddenly regarded as hopelessly shallow. Some people just don't get that while we're attracted to disability, personality and other aspects of physical appearance are important to us nonetheless. We're just like any other humans after all.
Anyway, there seem to be quite some non-devs who are attracted to the participants' DA partners.