Access to Sexual Rights for People Living with Disabilities: Assumptions, Evidence, and Policy Outcomes.

Sexuality scholars have historically understudied the link between disability, sexual exclusion, and social justice, including equal rights for people living with disabilities (PLWD) to enjoy a sexual and intimate life in adulthood. There have been some recent efforts to rectify this situation, with studies emerging concerning strategies for promoting their sexual rights. Our Target Article explores one contentious service option-the possibility of "sexual assistance" for PLWD, which ranges in meaning across countries from sex surrogacy to physical contact with paid sexual assistants. We conducted a knowledge synthesis using a scoping review methodology to identify the breadth of the academic scholarship available and assess its alignment with current ethical and moral debates and recent policies and practices surrounding the sexual scripts of PLWD as they relate to sexual assistance. We categorized the relevant articles in our scoping review into two broad classes: those that support sex-negative perspectives (i.e., framing sexuality as risky, adversarial, etc.) and those that support sex-positive perspectives (i.e., framing sexuality as normative, consensual, etc.). Our results show that sex-negative cultural scripts call for limitations of the sexual rights of PLWD due to their inherent vulnerability as having disabled sexualities and/or due to their heightened risk of exploiting sexual partners, especially cis women who sell sexual services. The sex-positive cultural scripts understand PLWD as having the same rights to sexual citizenship as non-disabled individuals and that to achieve this, equitable access to sexual health services in decriminalized and regulated service environments is needed. We conclude with limitations of our investigation and recommendations for further research on this understudied topic, including the possible integration of positive disabled sexuality and abuse prevention.

Navigating Stigma in Romantic Relationships Where One or Both Partners Sell Sexual Services.

Romantic relationships are an important part of our social identities and well-being. In this paper, we report on qualitative findings with thirty Canadian couples, interviewed together, where it was known that one or both partners sell sexual services for a living. We asked a series of open-ended questions related to the background of the couple's relationship, their day-to-day interactions and work-related stressors. Participants talked about the ongoing negotiations they engage in as a couple, the benefits of being open to each other about working in the sex industry, and how they manage its emotional toll on their partnership. We conclude that there are various ways that sex workers are able to maintain intimacy in their romantic relationships after sex work has been disclosed. Widespread social stigma attached to sex work, complicated by criminalization in countries such as Canada, nevertheless threatens relationship quality in the long run.

Using generalized additive mixed models to assess spatial, temporal, and hydrologic controls on bacteria and nitrate in a vulnerable agricultural aquifer.

The Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer (ASA) has a history of nitrate contamination from agricultural land use and manure application to soils, yet little is known about its microbial groundwater quality. The goal of this study was to investigate the spatiotemporal distribution of pathogen indicators (Escherichia coli [E. coli] and total coliform [TC]) and nitrate in groundwater, and their potential relation to hydrologic drivers. Sampling of 46 wells over an 11-month period confirmed elevated nitrate concentrations, with more than 50% of samples exceeding 10 mg-N/L. E. coli detections in groundwater were infrequent (4 of 385 total samples) and attributed mainly to surface water-groundwater connections along Fishtrap Creek, which tested positive for E. coli in every sampling event. TC was detected frequently in groundwater (70% of samples) across the ASA. Generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) yielded valuable insights into relationships between TC or nitrate and a range of spatial, temporal, and hydrologic explanatory variables. Increased TC values over the wetter fall and winter period were most strongly related to groundwater temperatures and levels, while precipitation and well location were weaker (but still significant) predictors. In contrast, the moderate temporal variability in nitrate concentrations was not significantly related to hydrologic forcings. TC was relatively widespread across the ASA and spatial patterns could not be attributed solely to surface water connectivity. Varying nitrate concentrations across the ASA were significantly related to both well location and depth, likely due to spatially variable nitrogen loading and localized geochemical attenuation (i.e., denitrification). Vulnerability of the ASA to bacteria was clearly linked to hydrologic conditions, and was distinct from nitrate, such that a groundwater management strategy specifically for bacterial contaminants is warranted.