Abstracts Category : Other

Sexuality and self in old age: exploring the intersection of gender and age through the framework of older women's sexuality

by Rhiannon Jones

A growing body of literature is challenging understanding of sexuality in later life. The dominance of a biomedical perspective on sexual (dys)functioning has led to significant knowledge gaps and contributed to the construction of the oppressive binary of asexuality versus the sexy oldie. This has silenced the voice of older people, particularly older women, and in turn limited development of learning on sexualities in later life. Using a feminist gerontological perspective, this thesis aimed to explore older womens experiences of sexuality within the context of ageing, focusing on changes in relation to sexuality, and their impact on sense of self. Subsequently,participants accounts of sexuality were used as a lens through which the age/gender intersection was examined.The two-phase research design was qualitative, inductive and participative. In Phase 1, 6 older women and 8 researchers were interviewed about methodological issues in researching ageing and sexuality, which informed the focus and methods of the second phase. In Phase 2, 16 older women discussed their experiences of sexuality in in-depth interviews, which were thematically analysed.The resulting over-arching themes, expressing and revisiting sexuality,encompassed changes relating to practices, relationships, societal attitudes and sense of self. Older womens narrations challenged the notion of a fixed sexual identity and the asexual/sexy oldie discourse. Their experiences were far-ranging and nuanced, while shared characteristics of fluidity, heterogeneity and diversity were prevalent. These characteristics played an important role in countering the structural invisibility and regulation of older womens sexuality, by enabling participants to do gender differently and to assert a sense of continuity regarding their sexuality. Consequently this thesis contributes to knowledge development in three areas: (1) understanding of sexuality in later life; (2) feminist perspectives on womens sexuality in later life, with emphasis on an intersectional approach; and (3) methodology around researching ageing and sexuality.