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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Challenging social myths and stereotypes of women and aging
— heterosexual women talk about sex | | Author(s) | Sharron Hinchliff, Merryn Gott |
| Journal title | Journal of Women & Aging, vol 20, nos 1/2, 2008 |
| Pages | pp 65-82 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Older women ; Sexual activity ; Social surveys ; Sheffield. |
| Annotation | Whereas menopause is constructed as a time when women either lose or renew their interest in sex, later life is regarded as a time when sexual activity no longer assumes importance, yet remains vital to healthy ageing. This article examines the importance of sexual activity to "older" women, paying particular attention to how they negotiate such representations. In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 women aged 50+ recruited from Sheffield. A material-discursive analysis revealed that whilst participants rejected the asexual discourse of ageing, they accepted it for women older than themselves. They constructed women per se as sexually complex, in comparison to men, making sexual activity "risky business" for women, and positioned their own sexual desire as responsive either to a man's sexual desire or to their own hormones. Sexual activity was constructed as having psychological and physiological benefits for couples within committed relationships. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-080429205 A |
| Classmark | BD: BIU: 3F: 85C |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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