Past Disability, Future Ability

WRT 105

Past Disability, Future Ability

Our image on disability is truly limited and often stereotypical, but some exceptions such as the popular representations of Aimee Mullins, will try to offer us an opposite perspective upon disability. Who is Aimee Mullins you may ask? She is a well-known American athlete, actress and fashion model best known for her numerous achievements in the world of athletics, despite her having two prosthetic legs. The image that I have chosen is from an Italian magazine called "Wired "in which Aimee Mullins and Matthew Barney, both suffering from a disability, have appeared on the cover of the magazine.

In this picture, Aimee's facial expression emits a strong, confident feeling: her big brown eyes are focusing directly on the camera, her jaw is sharp and prominent, her lips have a soft pink color, drawing attention to her facial expressions, slowly opening her lips to have a more sensual look. Her blonde, shiny hair is softly touching her left part of the shoulder, curling down towards the end. Her right hand is positioned on her hip, gently resting her palm on the white, delicate dress while her nails, in the color of dark blue, are in contrast with the white dress, giving her a stylish look.

The only accessories that are remarkable in this picture are two different colored bracelets on her right hand, combining two contrasting shades: grey and black. It seems that the whole picture contains the same colors: grey, white and black, excluding the title which has a vibrant, orange color. These neutral colors help create a calm atmosphere, emphasizing the purity and delicacy of the woman, which is dressed only in white, and the sophisticated, virile features of the man who is dressed in a grey suit.

The background is composed from hundreds of small, plus signs, that are all put together to form squares, but they are slowly fading in color in the middle of the picture, where the background changes into a white, bright light. The bright shade in the middle of the picture is actually positioned right behind the prosthetic leg, that is resting on the men's knee, making the viewers focus on her complex, futuristic leg when they first view the image.

On the right side of the picture, there is Matthew Barney who is kneeling down next to Aimee Mullins, having his head turned towards her leg, with one hand tightly holding one of her legs up on his right knee, and in the other one he is holding a special crayon-type of ustensil, appearing to construct and perfect her prosthetic leg. He is wearing a certain type of professional glasses, that are usually used for protective measures when working in car shops or other dangerous areas. His eyes look like they are almost closed, because he is focusing down on the woman's leg, trying to improve her actual condition. On the bottom part of the image, you can see his pants that are curled up, in order to expose his prosthetic legs. The shape of his prosthetic legs are different from Aimee's legs, which are described as being "aerodynamically designed after the hind legs of a cheetah"(60), while his legs have a normal shape.

Aimee Mullins presents a unique combination of posthuman status with a strong sexual image. Even though the article is called "Evolution in Progress" the image does not focus on the technological evolution in the prosthetic area, but instead reveals the attractive, sexual image of a woman with a disability. The attention is focused on the prosthetic legs, but also on Aimee Mullins, who transmits a sexual vibe through her confident, feminine posture. She is facing the camera straight forward, in a graceful manner, having one foot up, that is securely placed on the man's knee.

The woman is radiant through her beauty, wearing a vaporous and extremely short white dress that shows her long, delicate "Barbie-like legs"(59). This image doesn't show her physical strength anymore, and her numerous athletic achievements, it shows the femininity of a woman that even though suffers from a disability, she is exposing her imperfections in such a way that is considered beautiful and sexual. She has reached her actual goal: she is considered beautiful because of her disability and for her different, "cyborgian sex kitten"(60) type of image.

After observing these details, a question arises: Is Aimee Mullins's fame due to her disability, athletic achievements or her sexualized image? Or is it a combination of all these factors? Her disability can actually create erotic fantasies, also known as "technofetishism" , where men are sexually attracted to "inanimate or non-human objects, [and] living part[s] of the body [that are] treated as dead or partial objects substituted for the whole" and how "these inanimate, non-human, or partial objects are surinvested [or overvalued] to the exclusion of all other targets of desire." (48). The image of the female amputee is being highly exploited through these fetishistic practices, her modeling career is also a contributing factor to this process of exploitation, because even though she has the chance to model for various high fashion shows, her body is always exposed to the public (especially her prosthetic legs) often arising sexual thirst or other erotic desires when seeing this "Cyborgian sex kitten" on the runway.

Even in the picture that I have chosen, the title of the article is "Evolution in progress" Aimee Mullins isn't actually trying to expose her legs as a sign of continuous technological prosperity, she is exposing her entire body by wearing a short, white dress, sending a sexual message to all of its viewers. Her intention is to expose her disability to the audience and prove to the world that even female amputees can still be attractive and sexual, but is the media focusing on the same intention when publicizing these photographs? The exploitative tactics are subtle to the public, trying to conceal their sexual aim, and replace it with a positive action such as taking photographs of disabled persons, and giving them the opportunity to appear in different commercials or posters, tricking people to think that they are actually embracing the disabled community and that they are considering them equal.

Can this image actually be considered valid? Is this the true representation of people all around the world that suffer from a disability? This image of Aimee Mullins illustrates the idea of perfection in a disabled world, it is trying to prove to the world that people with disabilities can actually have greater achievements in life compared to other normal individuals. But if you walk around the city, do you see disabled persons as professional athletes,