Abstract
Containing an introductory chapter and 14 others divided into four parts, it will come as no surprise that this edited volume addresses a spectrum of ageing, gendered sexual identities and how these combine with other forms of differences such as class, ethnicity, disability and location. As the introductory chapter states, intersectionality ‘is not just a threshold concept but a multifaceted one’ and one that is capable of offering insights into dis/advantage as multiple.
As befits a globalizing world, the volume brings together established scholars (and some newer ones) from Australia, Europe, Iran, Israel, South Africa and the USA based in various disciplines across the social sciences, humanities and cultural studies. It should appeal to academics and students across these fields of knowledge as well as health and social work/care professionals and policymakers.
The volume focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) identities but also exceeds this intellectual project to shine a light on menopause, middle-aged motherhood, experiences in care settings and of pharma-technologies such as Viagra. The book also contains chapters where particular forms of ageing sexuality are approached in an applied way; for example, older gay and bisexual men’s accounts of prostate cancer and with due criticality in relation to age, sexuality and elements of hegemonic masculinity. As noted in the Foreword, the volume presents a salutary reminder that there can be no single understanding of ageing and that the tendency to homogenize older people risks doing them (and our reputations and disciplines) a tremendous disservice.
More specifically, the volume is organized around four themes. The ground-clearing chapters in the first theme address use of intersectionality theory and queer theory to open out understanding of ageing genders and sexualities. As the chapter by Toni Calasanti points out, not all older women are the same and some may find themselves excluded socio-economically (which affects opportunities for social participation) while others may be economically secure but excluded from sexual citizenship. Also, given that queer/deconstructive approaches have come to dominate academic discourse on sexuality, it is refreshing to read Yvette Taylor’s critical and Bourdieusian-influenced approach to the limits of the queer subject and temporalities. Taylor usefully points up how ageing, gendered sexuality – and of younger people! – intersects with structures of class and status in academe that constrain agency and mobility. I also found instructive here a chapter by Vanessa Fabbre and Anna Siverskog on the highly neglected subject of trans ageing, which draws on poststructuralist tools to avoid thinking of ageing in heteronormative (and cisgendered) life stages. This is one chapter that attempts cross-national analysis, drawing on empirical research conducted in Sweden and the USA and points up the collectively produced understandings of trans ageing.
Chapters in the second theme/part examine effects of dominant representations of ageing and gendered sexualities. Of particular note here is an examination by Maricel Oró Piqueras of various works of modern literature as a lens through which to understand critically heterosexual women’s experiences of sex in later life, involving constraint and agency beyond heteronormative and ageist assumptions. In contrast, a chapter by Kinneret Lahad and Karen Hvidtfeldt draws on everyday texts (magazines and websites) that construct a normative temporality (and morality) of motherhood and how middle-aged women in two very different countries (Israel and Denmark) negotiate such discourse.
Chapters in the third theme/part explore influences of oppression and resistance concerning ageing, gendered sexualities. Of note here is the contribution of Reygan and Khan looking at how age, gender and sexuality intersect with race/culture in post-apartheid South Africa affected by the HIV pandemic. Interestingly, Feliciano Villar’s chapter based on Spanish care homes highlights the policing of the sexuality of the oldest citizens, especially women, and reminds us of the need to recognize rights to sexual/intimate self-expression in such contexts (where residents can find themselves re-infantilized). The last theme/part critically examines how dominant notions of sexual health are gendered and heteronormative. Here, Raffaella Ferrero Camoletto considers how Italian medical professionals police the availability of Viagra using age and relationship status and responsibility (if not respectability) as criteria. This involves critical engagement with discourses of ageless sexuality and ‘positive ageing’ as represented by the ‘sexy oldie’.
In summary this is a rich, engaging, innovative, well-organized, wide-ranging international volume with a critical focus on themes and issues of sexuality now being spotlighted in addition to more established concerns with the enmeshments of race, class and gender (femininity). The volume combines theory with considerations of practice or ramifications for how social groups are thought of in everyday discourse. It is perhaps easy to cavil about what is missing from any edited volume and I would like to have seen more debates between contributors and contributions referring to South and East Asian and African contexts but these suggest an agenda for further output.
