Ageing and Sexualities

Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Rosie Harding, Elizabeth Peel

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317183723
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This book showcases developments in theory, research and practice regarding sexuality and ageing, considering the differences as well as similarities between and among ageing heterosexual and LGBT older people. Identifying the questions central to future social scientific research on ageing and sexuality, it focuses on the important, emerging dimensions of sexuality and ageing: embodiment, the diversification of the ageing context and the intersections of care and sexuality. With attention to the different forms of sexualities, particularly at their intersection with gender, this volume explores the importance of spatial and relational contexts, whether individual, residential or virtual, with authors offering studies of online dating, sexuality in the context of residential care and the relationship between sexuality, legal frameworks and social policy. Interdisciplinary in scope and offering the latest research from scholars in the UK, Australasia and Africa, Ageing and Sexualities constitutes an integrated approach to the conceptual and practical challenges of understanding the interplay of ageing and sexuality in contemporary society. As such, it will appeal to scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, including sociology, cultural studies, socio-legal studies, social gerontology, psychology, medicine and health care.

Chapter 1
Ageing and Sexuality in Western Societies: Changing Perspectives on Sexual Activity, Sexual Expression and the ‘Sexy’ Older Body

Sharron Hinchliff and Merryn Gott

Introduction

In July 2013 The Australian Women’s Weekly magazine contained an interview with Jane Fonda about her life as a Hollywood actor. The feature made reference to Fonda’s many accolades, including the Oscars she had won (two, but nominated for more), her successful fight against breast cancer, the seven books she had authored, her status as a feminist icon of the 1970s, and her longevity in the ‘fickle’ Hollywood film industry. Clearly, the message went, this was a woman who had achieved a lot in her 75 years and was to be celebrated. But in the midst of this praise the feature took an interesting turn when it asserted that ‘perhaps the most startling thing about the actress and L’Oreal ambassador is that, at 75, she is still having sex. Lots of it, apparently, and it’s never been better’. The shock that comes from knowing that people (or is it just women?) are sexually active in their mid-seventies, and that they enjoy it, provides evidence of the persistence of the stereotype of an ‘asexual old age’. This stereotype endures despite much evidence to the contrary (which we discuss later), indicating that it is grounded in social attitudes about ageing and gender rather than the life experiences of older adults themselves.

Historically, sexual activity and late adulthood have been incompatible in public discourses and this deeply entrenched view has been repeated and reinforced in a number of ways. For example, through the lens of medicine, ageing has been viewed predominantly in terms of disease and decline including sexual decline. And public policy has tended to promote ageism through enforced retirement and the neglect of older adults in key policy documents such as the UK National Sexual Health Strategy (Department of Health, 2001). Similarly, social attitudes that situate sex as the preserve of the young have been reinforced through media outlets where portrayals of sexuality have rarely included older adults (Gill, 2008; Vares, 2009). The combined force of such powerful discourses in Western societies has meant that later life sexuality has seldom been acknowledged and when it has, those expressions of sexuality have been stigmatised (e.g., the derogatory term ‘dirty old man’) or infantilised (e.g., the ‘cute response’ when old women and men hold hands). Those working in the field of human sexuality have long asserted that sexuality should be approached from a life-course perspective (e.g., Rossi, 1994; Carpenter and DeLamater, 2012) but an examination of public discourses reveal that it has not typically been viewed in this way.

In line with a broader ‘sexualisation of culture’ however, changes began to be observed during the mid-1990s with regard to middle and old age sexuality. Representations of older adults as sexual beings were visible on television and in film as storylines depicted their intimate relationships (Vares, 2009). Around the same time there was a shift within the gerontological health circles as sexual activity came to be seen as important to the health and well-being of middle-aged and older adults. Sex in later life became a marker of successful ageing (Marshall, 2010), fuelled by the development of sexuopharmaceuticals (e.g., Viagra) which aimed to counter the negative effects of disease on sexual ‘function’. Potts and Tiefer (2006) believe that the biomedicalisation of sexuality has fashioned new standards of sexual performance for women and men: a factor which has fed into the creation of a new myth around aged sexuality – the ‘sexy oldie’ (Gott, 2005). And today the message that sex is ‘good’ for ageing health sits alongside messages that treat sexuality in late adulthood with disdain. In this chapter we explore these arguments further, focusing on three key aspects of ageing sexuality: sexual activity; sexual expression; and the ‘sexy’ older body. We draw on social gerontology, gender studies, critical social psychology, and sociology literatures to examine the ways that public, medical and academic discourses have constructed and shaped understandings of middle and late adult sexualities. The process of ageing is understood in this chapter as something that cannot be disentangled from its social, cultural and historical contexts. And, following Weeks (2011, pp. 204–5), we see sexualities as the ‘result of diverse social practices that give meaning to human activities, of social definitions and self-definitions, of struggles between those who have power to define and regulate, and those who resist’. Our first step, though, is to look at what we already know about sexual activity in middle and late adulthood, paying particular attention to frequency, difficulties and disease.

Sexual Activity

Evidence collected from surveys (e.g., Karraker, DeLamater and Schwartz, 2011; Mercer et al., 2013) confirms that people do not stop desiring sex or engaging in sexual acts just because they reach a certain age. We know that, as is the same for young adults, sexual activity levels are not homogeneous: some people are sexually active, some are not sexually active, and some resume sexual activity again after a long period of abstinence. A number of studies, the majority of which have been conducted within a heteronormative framework, have reported the rates of sexual activity of people in their 50s and older, demonstrating that older adults engage in sexual activity but that the frequency is reduced in comparison to younger cohorts. For example, when we look at recent data from the UK’s largest study on sexual behaviours, the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL 3), of the sexual partners, practices and attitudes reported by men in the oldest age group (65–74 years), 37.2 per cent had vaginal intercourse and 33.1 per cent had engaged in masturbation with a female partner in the previous four weeks. In the past 12 months, 30.4 per cent had given or received oral sex and 2.9 per cent had anal sex, both with a female partner. With a male partner, 6.1 per cent reported any lifetime sexual experience or contact, 3.4 per cent any sexual experience with genital contact, and 0.9 per cent at least one male sexual partner in the last five years (Mercer et al., 2013). Of the sexual partners, practices and attitudes reported by women in the oldest age group (65–74 years), 23.1 per cent reported having vaginal sex and 10.3 per cent reported masturbation with a male partner in the previous four weeks, and in the last 12 months 19.0 per cent had given or received oral sex and 3.6 per cent reported having anal sex with a male partner. With a female partner, 2.6 per cent reported any sexual experience or contact, 0.8 per cent any sexual experience with genital contact, and 0.1 per cent at least one female sexual partner in the last 5 years (Mercer et al., 2013).¹

Other UK studies of people aged 50 and older in the UK have found similar results. Two surveys commissioned by Saga in January 2013 (n=8989) and January 2014 (n=9685) revealed little difference regarding frequency of sexual activity. In 2013, 23 per cent reported sex at least once a week and 16 per cent once a fortnight, and in 2014, 23 per cent reported having sex once a week and 13 per cent reported once a fortnight. The 2013 results showed that the majority (82 per cent) reported a decline in sexual activity compared to when in their 20s and 30s, but 49 per cent reported their current sex life as more relaxing. However, while 28 per cent said they enjoyed sex more now, 36 per cent said they enjoyed sex less. (The sexual orientation of the respondents was not disclosed in the published reports from these studies.) When we compare the findings to studies conducted in other developed countries we see a parallel. Karraker, DeLamater and Schwartz (2011) reported the results of two nationally representative surveys of heterosexual sexual activity in the United States: the National Health and Social Life Survey; and the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. They found that 87.8 per cent of men and 71.9 per cent of women aged 44–59, and 72 per cent men and 45.5 per cent women aged 57–72, were sexually active. Reported frequency of sexual activity per month ranged from 6.18 per cent (men aged 44–59) to 1.74 per cent (women aged 57–72). Overall, men reported higher levels of sexual activity than women. Another nationally representative sample, the Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships, found that regular heterosexual activity was usual for participants aged 60–64 (n=635) who have a partner, with women and men reporting three sexual experiences on average a month (Ferris et al., 2008).² In response to the question ‘An active sex life is important for sense of wellbeing’, 78 per cent of women and 91 per cent of men agreed. Similarly, 56 per cent women and 81 per cent men agreed that ‘Sex was very pleasurable’, and 65 per cent women and 72 per cent men reported feeling very satisfied with their sexual relationship. Men were slightly more likely than women (86 per cent and 72 per cent respectively) to report that they found the sexual relationship ‘very’ emotionally satisfying (Ferris et al., 2008, p. 337).

A longitudinal study of Swedish 70 year olds carried out at four different time periods (1971–2, 1976–7, 1992–3, 2000–1; total sample n=1506) identified trends in heterosexual sexual activity (Beckman et al., 2008). The findings demonstrated that over this 30 year period, self-reported quality and quantity of sexual experiences improved. For example, the number of participants who reported that they were sexually active (defined as ‘sexual contact between individuals most often with penetration’ p. 2), that they had a positive attitude to sex, and that they believed sexuality was a positive factor in their lives, increased from the first to the last cohort. This was consistent for participants who were cohabiting, married and unmarried. There was also an increase across the 30 year time period in the number of participants who reported that they were sexually active at least once a week. Both women and men who reported high or very high sexual satisfaction increased over the 30 year period too. For women only, the proportion who reported low or no sexual satisfaction decreased, but the opposite was observed for men. The authors speculated that these changes could be connected to a number of factors: better socioeconomic status; higher educational levels; changes in relationships such as an increase in cohabitation and divorce; better health in the later born samples; societal shifts including attitudes towards sexuality; and legislative change, such as compulsory sex education in schools.

But we need to be mindful of the ways that research is carried out. It is clear that evidence regarding sexual activity amongst older (heterosexual) adults is largely derived from large-scale quantitative surveys which ask participants to specify the frequency with which they engage in specific sexual acts. The difficulties with extrapolating from this research to draw conclusions about sexuality and ageing are, however, numerous (Gott, 2005). For example, tools are typically not derived from qualitative research with older adults themselves which can lead to surveys not actually capturing what they intended to because nuances of language may be missed. Indeed, the language people use to describe all aspects of sexuality is very cohort specific. As Philip Larkin (1974) eloquently argued in Annus Mirabilis, each generation likes to believe that they invented sex. Therefore, without consultation with older adults themselves, it is possible that the survey is not capturing what the authors believe it is. There is also a tendency in such research to not be specific about the terms being used. For example, people are typically asked how often they ‘have sex’. Our previous (qualitative) research with heterosexual older adults (Hinchliff and Gott, 2004) demonstrated that the term ‘sex’ can vary considerably in how it is defined at an individual level, and is subject to influence by both age and cohort. We found that for many older adults sex did not straightforwardly equate with intercourse, and could encompass activities that people in their 20s and 30s probably would not view as sexual (e.g., gardening together) (Hinchliff and Gott, 2004). However, the discussion of survey data, and sexuality and ageing more broadly, within most of the academic literature typically ignores these (very important) differences.

Another issue is that researchers do not sit outside the culture within which they study: they are part of it and thus the design of surveys can be problematic as they often reflect the assumptions that researchers bring to the whole area of sexuality and ageing. For example, some promote a romanticised notion of older age sex as something which occurs within the confines of (heterosexual) marriage. The Saga surveys make this preconception quite explicit by including data on sexual activity under a section in the 2013 report entitled Valentine’s Story (2013) or specifically mentioning Valentine’s Day under their section on sexual activity in the 2014 report. Surveys rarely mention sex as a potentially coercive activity, feeding into a generalised assumption that sex in later life is exclusively a ‘good th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of Tables
• Notes on contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Ageing and Sexualities
• 1 Ageing and Sexuality in Western Societies: Changing Perspectives on Sexual Activity, Sexual Expression and the ‘Sexy’ Older Body
• 2 Ageing Sexualities in UK Regulatory Contexts
• 3 Inclusion and Representation of Older People and Sexual Health in Sub-Saharan Africa within Contemporary Population Health Research
• 4 Becoming Visible: De-Marginalising Older Lesbians in LGBT Ageing Discourse
• 5 Sexual Identity Labels and their Implications in Later Life: The Case of Bisexuality
• 6 Older People and Sexuality in Residential Aged Care: Reconstructing Normality
• 7 “I am Getting Old and That Takes Some Getting Used To”: Dimensions of Body Image for Older Men
• 8 Troubling Identities? Examining Older Lesbian, Gay and/or Bisexual People’s Membership Categorisation Work and its Significance
• 9 Towards the Inquiry into Aged Care and Beyond: The Promise and Challenge of a New Era in LGBTI Ageing
• 10 Internet Dating, Sexual Intimacy and Older People
• Index