This article contains content that some people may find offensive
It's midnight. I’m sat on my sofa with a glass of red wine. A 30-year-old man - let’s call him Tom - is describing his ultimate fantasy via Skype.
"Big tits." Typical. "Small stomach." Of course. "Tattoos." I take a sip of wine. "Low tetraplegic with thin legs." Pause. "And a permanent catheter."’ Wait, what?
Welcome to the world of devotees: people who are sexually aroused by disability.
BBC
Over the past six months, I have been completely immersed in this bizarre and unsettling world. Before working on this documentary, I had no idea this sexual preference existed. I’d probably still be oblivious if Emily Yates hadn’t rolled up to BBC Three HQ with her fuchsia hair and metallic purple Converse, bursting to tell her story.
To quickly introduce Emily: she’s 24, charms everyone within 10 seconds of meeting them and loves sex, travelling and glittery manicures. She also has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair. She pitched her idea for a documentary about devotees with such conviction it was green-lit pretty much instantly (and that NEVER happens). ‘Meet the Devotees’ is her first presenting gig and it’s fair to say she doesn’t hold back.
BBC
A while ago, Emily posted a photo of herself on Facebook. Among the compliments, one comment stood out: ‘pretty cripple’. Shocked, offended and intrigued, Emily decided to do some research. Within hours, she’d discovered a secret community whose members saw her ‘floppy legs’ and ‘twisted feet’ as the sexiest thing on the planet.
BBC
It’s hard to get your head around. But type ‘devotee disability’ into Google and hundreds of sites and forums dedicated to ‘devs’ and ‘dev porn’ pop up. Disclaimer: ‘devotee porn’ doesn’t contain sex. Instead, devs get off on watching people with disabilities doing everyday activities - climbing stairs, getting dressed, transferring from a wheelchair to a car - which shows off their ‘broken body’.
Google
Even in today’s society, which is seemingly more sexually liberated and tolerant than ever, devoteeism is a huge taboo. Tom insisted on a written interview because he was terrified his housemates would overhear us. Apparently, his friends can’t even accept lesbians or gays or ‘foot fetishists’. Tom barely tolerates his own taste for tetraplegics: "Imagine how it feels to get horny because a woman can no longer walk and has a spinal cord injury… how can you be turned on by useless legs or spasms?"
BBC
Lots of devotees are living a lie: one in the USA has been married to an able-bodied woman for years. He is incredibly active online, yet his wife has no idea about his penchant for stumps.
BBC
After countless rejections… BOOM, I found Ruth Madison - a loud, proud, female devotee who had a ‘sexual experience’ to Mary Poppins aged four and was happy to be on camera.
bbc
For a week or so, my evening routine went like this: finish work, eat dinner, watch Netflix, Skype total strangers about which disabilities turn them on. FYI - amputees are the most popular, although it seems like anything goes. I spoke to people who were into spina bifida, blindness, nappies. You name it, someone, somewhere is getting off on it.
Back in my living room, it’s 1am. In the last hour, we’ve discussed Tom’s porn habits, the best sex of his life (a paralysed woman he met online who couldn’t move her vaginal muscles), depression, discos and even my sexuality.
As my eyelids start to droop, Tom apologies for his cowardliness in not appearing on camera. Then he types: "Can I ask you one more thing?" I brace myself. "How did the Jeremy Clarkson Top Gear thing end up? What was the problem with Jeremy? I don’t know what to believe… but it was because of a sandwich?"
BBC
Tom may fantasise about a lady with no limbs and a permanent catheter, but when it comes to Clarkson, he’s on the same page as us.
Rebecca Devaraj is the Assistant Producer of Meet the Devotees.
Originally published 9 March 2016.
