The following is the question and answer segment of the "Village Voice" column by Dan Savage from about 2 weeks ago. ------------------------------------------------------- Q. You recently wrote something about people who "are only attracted to amputees". Well I personally have been attracted to female amputees for as long as I can remember. Have other people written you about this amputee attraction phenomenon? I get very excited when I come across a single-legged girl crutching along, or encounter a pretty young woman with an empty sleeve dangling where an arm should be. Do you know of any clubs or organizations that cater to such an interest? Are there many others with this attraction and where can I meet amputees? --Amp fan A. My dear old Catholic ma came to visit me from Chicago recently-for a whole week. Mom stayed with me at my new apartment, where she got to meet my new boyfriend, which went something like this: "Isn't he a little young?" "ma, he's 24" "Well, he doesn't look 24" "Ok, ma, you win. He's 12 years old. I'm the president of NAMBLA. I met him at the Baskin Robbins. I'll probably wind up going to jail for sucking his dick. But before I do, I'll sponsor him at his confirmation, okay? Does that make it better? I bring up my mother not because she's an amputee-for the record, mom still runs around on all fours-but because it was my mom who taught me everything I know about giving advice. During my formative years, I spent countless hours listening to my mother tell her sisters, her friends, and ladies from the parish to get their shit together. They came to her, she told them what she thought, and I drank it in. So in honor of Mother's Day, I let the ol' gal have a go at this sex-advice thang. Amp fan, here's moms advice: "Go and do some volunteer work at a hospital. Work in a rehabilitation instituted for people who have lost a limb in a car wreck or something." Sounds like ma's on your side. Did she really mean to say people attracted to amputees should lurk around hospitals? "Well no, of course not. I just thought he could meet an amputee that way. I'd guess he'd be volunteering for the wrong reason, like a pedophile working for the Boy Scouts." "Or going into the priesthood, huh ma?" (Icy silence) "Maybe he should go see a shrink and find out why he's into this." Sound advice. If I may put in my two cents: amputee fetishism, while not as common as, say, leather fetishism isn't unheard of either. While I don't personally have any knowledge of organizations for amputees and the folks that love'em, perhaps someone reading this does and will write in. In the meanwhile, what's to stop you from taking out a personal ad seeking like minded pervs and starting an organization of your own? And, hey: If there are any amputees reading this, I for one would like to know how you feel about people being attracted to you and your disability. Does it creep you out? Or does sleeping with someone who's into your stump, rather than someone who's willing to overlook it, work for you. Drop us a note. If anyone would like to write to Mr. Savage the address is: Ask Dan Savage c/o "The Voice" Box 2000 36 Cooper Square New York, New York 10003 -- De gustibus non disputandum Path: nntp.crl.com!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.primenet.com!ip011.lax.primenet.com!user From: jwb44@primenet.com (JWB) Newsgroups: alt.sex.fetish.amputee Subject: Dan Savage - Part 2 Date: Sun, 25 Jun 1995 15:20:13 -0800 Organization: Primenet Lines: 111 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: ip011.lax.primenet.com This is the column from the current issue. ---------------------------------------------------- Q: I read your recent Q&A with the guy attracted to amputees. I'm another "perv" with the same interest. You start out comparing amputee-lovers to pedophiles. Well maybe there's a parallel of sorts, but here's a big difference: The guy didn't say he was into amputee children, he didn't say he was into raping amputees, and he didn't say he was into making people into amputees. The guy said he was attracted to amputees. Why do you bring up criminal activity as a parallel? Sex between consenting adults isn't a crime any more, if you haven't heard. There's an organization for amputees and folks who love `em called Fascination, run by a woman named Bette Hagglund. You can call her on the phone or write. --Joe A: First of all, I didn't compare amputee-fetishists to pedophiles, my mother did. I compared pedophiles to Roman Catholic priests. My mother's comparison was unfair, and I must admit, it was equally unfair of me to imply that all pedophiles are Roman Catholic priests. Secondly, sex between consenting adults is illegal in roughly half these United States-or hadn't you heard? Go look up the Hardwick decision, doofus. In 1986, the Supreme Court upheld Georgia's sodomy law, ruling that, at least as far as gay sex is concerned, the state can regulate what consenting adults get up to in their bedrooms. While having sex with amputees, or wanting to have set with amputees, has never been illegal-SO LONG AS THE AMPUTEE IS OF ONE SEX AND THE DEVOTEE IS OF ANOTHER- outlawing sex between consenting adults is one of America's pastimes. Thirdly, on your suggestion, I did give Bette a call. And what a nice woman she is! Bette founded Fascination in 1984: Through a support group she was running for amputees, Bette came to know men who were attracted to amputees (ameliotatists), but were having a hard time meeting them. "So we created an atmosphere where people with these feelings can meet," says Bette. In addition to organizing social events, Fascination produces a quarterly newsletter that's "a combination of fiction, nonfiction and comments relating to the attraction." The newsletter features photographs of amputees, but it is not pornography. "Oh, no," says Bette. "Definitely not." According to Bette, most men and women involved with Fascination are looking for partners. "We've had several quad-amputees who met men at our meetings and are now married to them, quite a few triple-amputees met their husbands at our meetings, and double-amputees." How did Bette meet her husband? "When I had surgery, many years ago--I'm not going tell you how many [laughs] --there was an article about me in the paper. He saw the article and wrote me a letter asking if he could take me to dinner when I got out of the hospital. My roommate at the hospital knew him, he was her neighbor, so I went to dinner with him." How did Bette lose her legs? "I was horn with deformed legs. As an adult I decided to have them amputated. That's why there were articles written about me." Are most amputee-admirers men? "Yes, but it can the other way around. I've heard of some women who are attracted to men with disabilities, but more women are attracted to someone in a wheelchair, someone they could nurture and take care of". While no gay or lesbian amputee-admirers are involved with Fascination, "[w]e haven't ever excluded anyone," says Bette. "We do have a couple of gays on the mailing list, though, but only a couple." Q: A poke in the eye with a prosthetic device for "Amp Fan." I'm a young woman with myriad attributes-some very desirable, some not. I am also an amputee. I have worked very hard to cultivate my positive natural qualities, to help define myself as a strong, whole person. "Amputee" it not high on the list of my "qualities." I could just kick the hell out of some guy who is either jokingly or seriously seeking out young women who has lost a limb for the very fact that they've lost a limb. He's targeting and fetishizing what a young woman may be missing at the possible expense of her long climb toward wholeness. You're an insect, AMP Fan, spare me your parasitic shenanigans. --RSB, Seattle A: I shared your letter with Bette, and she leapt on your thoughtless agism: "Why does she think only `young women' are pursued? It's not true: the women who attend our meetings are 21 to 75 years old." And the Fascination boys, presumably, are in hot pursuit of all of them, from the very young amputees to the AARP amps. Bette validates your feelings about your missing limb: "Being an amputee is incidental, not a negative or positive quality." But she hopes you reconsider your take on men drawn to you because of your stump: All relationships begin with an initial attraction---blue eyes, nice legs, fannies, etc. You can't base a relationship on being an amputee. But there is nothing wrong with it sparking the initial attraction." Q: "AMP Fan" can rest assured that a community of fetishists shares his interest. Although most amputee fans are straight males, some are gay males, and a few are women. Some fetishists seek other disabilities: crutches, plaster casts, braces, deformations, birth defects, scars, and other medical conditions. Amputee-fetishists hold several annual get-togethers, to which amputees are invited, all expenses paid. Your reader should check out the Internet news group alt.sex.fetish.amputee to get in touch with the larger community. --Above The Knee A: I checked out alt.sex.fetish.amputee on the Internet. Frankly, it wasn't that interesting: an ad for hand lotion that supposedly kills HIV, a non-amputee-specific pitch from a company organizing a mail-order-bride excursion to the Philippines (that's creepy), and a few dullish postings from amp-fans. Has anyone else noticed how even the most outlandish stuff becomes crushingly dull when filtered through the Internet? Fascination does hold an annual get-together for amputees and devotees. The '95 convention, Bette says, was the first week of June. "It was our 11th annual meeting, we had 75 people. The convention was at the Ramada Inn, and was wonderful." Do amputees really attend Fascination's Convention all-expenses-paid? "Yes," says Betty "including travel expenses." Amputee fans can write Fascination at P.O. Box 34265, Chicago, IL 60634. ---------------------------------------------- Sex queries? Ask Dan Savage, c/o The Village Voice, Box 2000, 36 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003 -- De gustibus non disputandum