title: The Importance of Sex and the Meaning of Sex and Sexual Pleasure for Men Aged 60 and Older Who Engage in Heterosexual Relationships: Findings from a Qualitative Interview Study.
abstract: That many older individuals continue to engage in various forms of sexual expression well into later life is now well established in the literature. To date, however, only a small body of qualitative research has examined older men's experiences and understandings of sex in later life. Likewise, the ways in which older men's discussions on sex may be used as an avenue for "doing" masculinity remain underexplored. Older men are particularly interesting in this regard, as they inhabit an increasingly subordinated position in relation to hegemonic masculine ideals because of their age. To what extent might this limit or, alternatively, open up the possibilities for sexual expression and subjectivity in later life? Drawing on a subset of findings from Sex, Age, and Me: A National Study with Australian Women and Men Aged 60 and Older, data from qualitative interviews with 27 Australian men were explored in this article. The first Australian study of its kind, we argue that older men who engage in heterosexual relationships draw on a diverse and complex array of discursive positions regarding sex, relationships, and masculinity in making sense of their experiences of sex in later life. Older men are a heterogeneous group, and their experiences and understandings of sex do not simplistically follow "decline" or "success" narratives of aging. The findings of this research build upon and extend emerging research illustrating the centrality of intimacy to older men's sexual lives, while simultaneously highlighting the ways in which the body and discursive constructions of sex intersect to shape older men's sexual subjectivities.
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia. B.Fileborn@latrobe.edu.au.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2650-3592
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fileborn
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Sharron
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hinchliff
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lyons
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Heywood
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia.|School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.|School of Justice, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Minichiello
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia.
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: National Ageing Research Institute, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.|Swinburne Institute of Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malta
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Crameri
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D008875:Middle Aged; D057181:Pleasure; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Aging; Masculinity; Older men; Sex; Sexual pleasure