Sharp Stick Grasps at Autistic Women’s Liminal Vulnerability

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Krazinski, M. (2023). Sharp Stick Grasps at Autistic Women’s Liminal Vulnerability. Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.9707/2833-1508.1142

Publication date: 13 Dec 2023 Added to AutiHub: 4 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Meaghan Krazinski *

Abstract

This film analysis of Sharp Stick by Lena Dunham critically explores how the film uptakes representations of the ideas around the vulnerabilities of Autistic women in popular culture, and yet does not explicitly name them as such. This liminality is critical and plays into the intersectional analysis that the author engages around the way vulnerability and Autistic identity is interpreted and read. The author draws upon McDermott's (2022) "neurotypical gaze" in an analysis that shows how traditional tropes around Autistic women’s vulnerability are social constructions that are brought into relief by stereotypes around race, gender, and ability. The author uses the shape of this gaze to then enact neurodivergent subjectivities by finding where the film may move otherwise- into neurodivergent subjectivities that decenter the gaze. The analysis reveals The Plot centers a neurotypical audience via a voyeuristic stance, perpetuating ideas of both vulnerability and redemption as tied to cisheteronormativity, as well as a superficial engagement with the value non-normative interests. However, throughout the film opportunities exist that glimpse at more expansive possibilities. Exploring ideas of communication and solidarity, this article shows how the analysis of liminality can contribute to understandings of both vulnerability and sexual agency; as well as questions of legibility and value.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 29 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
12
With a DOI
11
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
5 / 12 (41.7%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 12 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
12 / 12 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
21
From DOI or external metadata
21
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
9 / 21 (42.9%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 12 / 21 (57.1%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
7 / 21 (33.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 7 / 9 (77.8%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 6 / 20 (30.0%).
  1. Inderpal Grewal , Caren Kaplan (1994). Scattered hegemonies: postmodernity and transnational feminist practices .
    Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W637306354
    OpenAlex
  3. Mikaela Starke , Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist * , Jari Kuosmanen (2016). Eternal Children? Professionals’ Constructions of Women with an Intellectual Disability Who are Victims of Sexual Crime . Sexuality and Disability, 34(3), 315-328. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s11195-016-9441-0 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2354059304
    OpenAlex
  5. Christa Mullis (2019). Reflection: Autistic-Coded Characters and Fans in Fandom . Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 8(2), 147-156. University of Waterloo.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.15353/cjds.v8i2.495 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2943032334
    OpenAlex
  6. Benjamin Kearl (2021). Questioning Autism’s Racializing Assemblages . Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 28(2), 150-162. Consortium Erudit.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.7202/1082922ar OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3200567928
    OpenAlex
  8. Fabienne Cazalis , Elisabeth Reyes , Séverine Leduc , David Gourion (2022). Evidence That Nine Autistic Women Out of Ten Have Been Victims of Sexual Violence . Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 16, 852203. Frontiers Media SA.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.852203 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4225009262
    OpenAlex
  9. Laura Mulvey (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema . In Feminisms (pp. 438-448). Macmillan Education UK.
    Type: Book chapter DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-14428-0_27 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4234408418
    OpenAlex
  10. María Lugones (2007). Heterosexualism and the Colonial / Modern Gender System . Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, 22(1), 186-209. Cambridge University Press (CUP).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1353/hyp.2006.0067 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4238488630
    OpenAlex
  11. Daniel Glenn (2022). Neuroqueer Heresies: Notes on the Neurodiversity Paradigm, Autistic Empowerment, and Postnormal Possibilities . World Futures, 78(5), 339-341. Informa UK Limited.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1080/02604027.2022.2094194 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4285727398
    OpenAlex