Project

Later-in-Life Intimacy: women’s unruly practices, spaces and representations

Code
BOF/STA/201909/020
Duration
01 March 2020 → 31 December 2024
Funding
Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund
Research disciplines
  • Social sciences
    • Sexual anthropology
    • Social and cultural anthropology
    • Sociology of gender and gender relations
    • Social gerontology and sociology of ageing
Keywords
sexuality gender ageing
 
Project description

Negative ideas and stereotypes prevail about older women and sex. It is generally assumed that growing older is bad for women’s sexuality and desirability. Widespread negative assumptions about ageing and female sexuality are also reflected in the lack of research interest in the topic and a predominantly medicalized view. There is a critical need for alternative models to the negative conceptions of 50+ women’s sexuality. LiLI aims to address this significant gap in the research by exploring experiences and viewpoints that have the capacity to change the way we look at ageing and female sexuality. A multidisciplinary team with expertise in anthropology, social geography, cultural studies and philosophy will investigate the ‘unruly’, counterhegemonic knowledge of 50+ women from diverse social positions to develop a radically new, affirmative theory of 50+ women’s sexuality.