When privacy and secrecy collapse into one another, bad things can happen

Abstract

This article discusses privacy and secrecy in relation to the sexual lives of adults with significant disabilities. It compares ideologies and practices of privacy in two Scandinavian countries that diverge dramatically when it comes to sexuality and disability. In Sweden, the sexual lives of adults with disabilities are hindered and blocked by the people the welfare state pays to assist them. In Denmark, those same kinds of assistants facilitate sexual lives. A reason for this difference hinges on how “privacy” is conceptualized and practiced. In Denmark, to label something as “private” configures a particular kind of ethical space of engagement. In Sweden, “private” means “secret,” “off limits,” “beyond the boundary of knowledge or engagement.” This collapse of privacy and secrecy into one another has dire consequences for people with disabilities.