Sexuality as Disability: The Women on Sprog? and Danish Society

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show how, through professional diagnoses, social problems declared a specific group of women persona non grata in Danish society. The article is based on data derived from the archives of an institution directed at women of “loose and promiscuous character and low intelligence”: Sprog? in Denmark. The analyses focus on the professional narratives of the interned women, particularly the diagnoses and treatment applied, as they emerge from the archival material. Reading the “Sprog?-girls'” voluminous case sheets it becomes clear that the most marked professional buzzword is “sexuality”. Information was sought on the women's sexual behaviour and, for the staff on Sprog?, there was a special demand to report any signs of “sexual impulses” in the confined women. One recurring aspect was that, sexually, the women were seen as the active and inviting part, and that their behaviour was deemed deviant.