‘At YOUR age???!!!’: the constraints of ageist erotophobia on older people’s sexual and intimate relationships

Abstract

Older people’s attempts to express sexuality/intimacy are commonly met with ridicule, disbelief and infantilization. Such a process has been identified as ‘ageist erotophobia’ (Simpson et al 2018). This chapter demonstrates how ageist erotophobia is implicated in relational constraints on the expression of sexuality and intimacy in later life at three ‘levels’ that contribute to desexualisation. These concern the macro-level social relations of ageism which also influence thought/practice at the meso-level of care homes and everyday micro-level interpersonal relations. The concluding section briefly draws attention to how older people can avoid or challenge ageist erotophobia.