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TVNZ screened “Real Life: For One Night Only” last night, featuring a group of disabled British guys (including Asta Philpot) as they journey to Spain to experience a ‘normal’ sex life… in a brothel.
Asta Philpot, a 24 year-old man with arthogryposis, lost his viriginity in a brothel a few years ago, and was so revitalised by the experience he decided to take two more with him this time. One man was blind, and another was paralysed after a motorbike accident when he was 16; both were virgins. Interestingly, the young paralysed guy decided against losing his virginity at the brothel, a decision I was really glad to see he made! However the blind guy seemed really stoked with the way his night turned out, and who am I to knock someone’s happiness?
Anyway, I was just curious if anyone else watched it, and what they thought of the whole thing? Possibly a little patronising? What do you really think Asta’s parents thought of the whole him-visiting-a-brothel thing?
Leave a comment below!
4 responses so far ↓
1 Gilly // May 29, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Just finished watching it. I do wish a bit more attention had been paid to the reasons that these three blokes aren’t in fulfilling sexual relationships. I worry about people watching this and not being challenged in their assumptions that disability prevents people from finding someone, or that no one able-bodied could possibly be interested in a person with a disability unless cash was changing hands. Hmm. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it.
2 kate // Jun 3, 2008 at 1:52 am
Disabled men also have a right to sex”
No! Free access to sex is not a human right. Regrettably, consideration of disabled men is used to justify an act committed by far greater numbers of non-disabled men.
In 2001, after a parliamentary debate, the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs issued guidelines describing how health-care professionals and social workers can requisition women in prostitution for disabled men, the argument being that disabled men should have the same opportunities as non-disabled men.
The guidelines say nothing about the responsibility of health-care professionals to ensure that the woman has not been subject to trafficking, that she is not under age, and that she herself is not mentally ill or disabled due to sexual and other kinds of abuse during her childhood adolescence.
From an equality point of view one may ask what happened to society’s concern when it comes to the need for prostitution services for disabled women.
3 kiwijan // Jun 4, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Well I am 66yrs old; able-bodied [do have a disabled hubby] and I watched it and was not a bit “put out” in any way. If a disabled person has reached say mid 20`s and still not been lucky enough to find a sexual partner; then going to a brothel is not the end of the world surely. My only thought was the parents going too. Surely another caregiver of similar age to the disabled person could be employed to go and Mum & Dad keep well out of it.
4 Lee // Aug 13, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Yes I was the visually impaired guy in the documentary. Do you mind not using the workd blind please use Visually impaired.
Well I did this to make people aware of what disabled people go through in life. Yes I have found it hard to find a partner and have sex. I am not a pervert who wants to jump into bed with a woman evey 5 minutes. I was like any man wanted to get the feel of sex.
Its a cruel world out there. People do not un derstand dissability very well. I go out and mix in the community as normal if people are not interested in me I think F*ck you.
Well the experience in spain helped me a lot and I understand you all have your own opinions about it.
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