ACCSEX

This documentary film was released in 2013 made by independent documentary

filmmaker Sweta Gosh and funded by PSBT(Public Serving Broadcasting Trust).
As the tagline states Beautiful.Ugly.Complete.Incomplete. Abled. Disabled . The
movie explores the notion of sexuality, beauty and ability through the life of four
women with disability, Natasha, Sonali, Abha and Kanti . The movie questions the
notion of beauty, the idea of being abled and the notion of sexuality.

Film explores the life of four independent women with so-called disability, Sonali,
Natasha, Abha and Kanti all of them are based in Delhi. Sonali who is visually
impaired works at a call center, it has been 2 years of her marriage. For her
disability is not about other people accepting and adjusting, it’s about herself
understanding her own disability. Kanti was affected by polio at the age of 1. She
works as a typist in a school, her idea of empowerment is through education, she
challenges the gender roles. Abha was affected by polio at the age of 3, she gives
tuition to the school kids at her home. She had very less social interaction and very
less exposure to the outside world because of her disability, and because of it she
completed her education from distance learning. Natasha is a graphic designer who
is hearing-impaired, she tries to adjust herself according to the so-called normal
people.

The visual elements used in the film were the interviews of the lead characters,
footage of their interaction with family member, cartoons which were used to
visualize the stories of menstruation, masturbation and sexual interaction, clip of a
movie which was used to make the argument credible. The close-up and medium
close-up shots were used in the interviews to depict the emotions and expressions
of the characters so that audience could attach to it .

Through the film the filmmaker questions the notion of disability in society and
how handicapped people are treated in society .When Abha shares her experience
about being infantilized and sympathized by relatives and peer groups in family
gatherings then the clip from the movie Barfi makes her argument more credible.
The clip shows Priyanka Chopra who’s an autistic is dressed up like a school girl
by Ranbir Kapoor, her husband in the movie. Other scene shows her wearing saari
where she aspires to dress up like Ileana D'Cruz who’s dressed up like typical
Bengali women. It depicts that how she was infantilized by her partner. It shows
how the burden of sympathy also comes with the so called disability in society.
The notion of abnormality is challenged when Sonali states “If I can’t do
something which others can, you can’t call it abnormal. Abnormal for me would be
something out of the ordinary, it is not out of ordinary. If I am disabled then there
are lakhs of people who’re disabled and can’t do the things in same way. So how is
it abnormal?” Every being is different from other there are many differences on the
basis of region, culture, ethnicity, language, age and sex which determine the way
of doing certain things, despite of so many differences people are treated as a
normal human being, so why is there a notion of abnormality?

The movie shows how sex is a taboo in our society and we are not supposed to talk
about it freely. How ignorant are our parents in giving us sex education and our
education system has also proved to be incapable in breaking the abhorrence for
sex. Natasha was made aware about sex at the age of 6 by her parents and that’s
the reason for her being so open about it, she mentions that society has made it
taboo but it’s just one of thing of life, it’s beautiful and lovely.

The cartoon animated story about menstruation depicts that questioning about sex
and expressing sexuality are taboo in our society. The animated representation of
the story was more expressive and impactful. Abha mentions that earlier her notion
about sex and sexuality was based on the information provided by her parents and
she was very less informed about it due to very less social interaction , her parents
were only the source of information for her at that time. For her sexual satisfaction
is not only intercourse it could be anything like gentle touch are spending time
with the partner.

The movie also focuses on the different treatment and desexulization of the so-
called disabled . when Natasha points out the toilet signs for disabled how
insignificant is it, it looks like a furniture not a being. The way how signs depicts
the disables and asexualizes them shows the failure of the society to understand the
disabled.

How notion about certain things are developed and societal norms and culture
plays most important role in it. How the taste about certain things are developed by
societal norms. Natasha says that she tries to adjust herself according to the so-
called normal people and Sonali mentions that her dressing is decided by people, in
which color she looks more attractive is decided by people, in which they find her
more attractive. Our taste and choices are determined by how people want us to
be, the shape of the body, skin complexion, dressing and actions all have a
benchmark. The idea of beauty or the so called prefect body or the ideal sexiness is
questioned in the movie. With the shots of mannequins in the malls wearing latest
trending outfits and the models in the poster of cosmetic products depicts the ideal
sexiness, it shows how a women should be the slim trim body shapes of the
mannequins and fair complexion of the poster models sets the parameter for ideal
beautifulness in our society. The cartoon story about a girl on a wheelchair who
aspired to be a lingerie model as shown in the T.V and magazines strongly
emphasizes on how T.V, Magazines and internet are used to develop a taste and
sets a parameter for sexiness of a women.

Through the cartoon story of a handicapped girl in homosexual relationship the

filmmaker tries to break the stereotypes about homosexuality and the notion of
lovemaking. The film questions the patriarchy and the gender roles and nature of a
human being which is determined by the patriarchy. When Kanti states that “why
did you taught me when you had to make me work in the kitchen” she asks that
despite of being educated does she has do the household works because she is a
women. Natasha also mentions about her walking style that questions the notion of
a gender and the stereotypes.