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Boundary breaches: the body, sex and sexuality after stoma surgery

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  • Manderson, Lenore

Abstract

People with limited or no bladder or bowel control, who have had a stoma to manage elimination, have a particular awareness of the proximity of the sites of pleasure and excretion. Drawing on interviews and related ethnography conducted in Australia from 1998 to 2001, this paper explores how men and women with permanent continence problems negotiate their sexuality around their bodily unreliability. Pleasurable sex, idealized, involves losing control. People who are incontinent or rely on a stoma, however, must monitor their bladder and bowel, disguising the stoma and bag and controlling their body in sex as in other circumstances. The need to negotiate bodily boundaries with established partners, or to disclose to new sexual partners, results in self-consciousness and social unease, and people need to reconstruct notions of privacy and dignity so that breaches in bodily control do not undermine the sexual relationship. For many, the stoma undermines self-esteem and body image, while its management confuses the status of the individual as "normal" and the partner as carer or lover.

Suggested Citation

  • Manderson, Lenore, 2005. "Boundary breaches: the body, sex and sexuality after stoma surgery," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 405-415, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:61:y:2005:i:2:p:405-415
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Northouse, Laurel L. & Mood, Darlene & Templin, Thomas & Mellon, Suzanne & George, Tamara, 2000. "Couples' patterns of adjustment to colon cancer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 271-284, January.
    2. Gurevich, Maria & Bishop, Scott & Bower, Jo & Malka, Monika & Nyhof-Young, Joyce, 2004. "(Dis)embodying gender and sexuality in testicular cancer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(9), pages 1597-1607, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Brittain, Katherine R. & Shaw, Chris, 2007. "The social consequences of living with and dealing with incontinence--A carers perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 1274-1283, September.
    2. Frida Olsson & Carina Berterö, 2015. "Living with faecal incontinence: trying to control the daily life that is out of control," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1-2), pages 141-150, January.
    3. Hui Tao & Praneed Songwathana & Sang‐arun Isaramalai & Ying Zhang, 2014. "Personal awareness and behavioural choices on having a stoma: a qualitative metasynthesis," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(9-10), pages 1186-1200, May.
    4. Kinta Beaver & Saima Latif & Susan Williamson & Debbie Procter & Janet Sheridan & Jonathan Heath & Shabbir Susnerwala & Karen Luker, 2010. "An exploratory study of the follow‐up care needs of patients treated for colorectal cancer," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(23‐24), pages 3291-3300, December.
    5. Emslie, Carol & Browne, Susan & MacLeod, Una & Rozmovits, Linda & Mitchell, Elizabeth & Ziebland, Sue, 2009. "'Getting through' not 'going under': A qualitative study of gender and spousal support after diagnosis with colorectal cancer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1169-1175, March.

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