Reading the 'Sexy Oldie': Gender, Age(ing) and Embodiment
Abstract
In recent years there has been a cultural-scientific shift in the ways in which ageing and sexuality are represented. This has been most notable in the popular media where the predominant portrayal of asexual old age is increasingly accompanied by newer images of the 'sexy oldie'. While this shift counters conventional stereotypes of the asexual and disengaged elderly, the implications for seniors of such a change have not yet been adequately researched. Do senior viewers read images of sexy oldies as a challenge to traditional framings of older people as not sexually desirable, desirous, or capable? Do such portrayals disrupt the 'unwatchability' of elderly bodies and sexuality? This article draws on material from a reception study of seniors' readings of the film The Mother (2003) and focuses on the tensions and contradictions within and between the responses of focus groups of men and women (aged 49—85). In particular, I explore the ways in which some female participants' affective responses of 'disgust' to a filmic image of a naked, sexually active woman in her 60s, work to reconstitute it as 'unwatchable'.
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The contradictory alternatives of an asexual old age and the sexy oldie discourse do not resonate with what qualitative research has found about older peoples' experiences.
“As others have suggested, the contradictory alternatives of an asexual old age, and the”
From Medicalization and the Refashioning of Age-Related Limits on Sexuality (2012) · cites this paper as Vares, 2009
New representations of sexy middle-aged and older individuals are becoming more commonplace.
“New representations of sexy middle-aged and older individuals are becoming more commonplace, and have displaced what earlier observers have criticized as unflattering, asexual, or downright absent representations of older bodies (Vares, 2009; Walz, 2002).”
From Medicalization and the Refashioning of Age-Related Limits on Sexuality (2012) · cites this paper as Vares, 2009
The contradictory alternatives of an asexual old age and the sexy oldie discourse do not provide much of a range of positions for people to take up.
“As others have suggested, the contradictory alternatives of an asexual old age, and the”
From Medicalization and the Refashioning of Age-Related Limits on Sexuality (2012) · cites this paper as Vares, 2009
New representations of sexy middle-aged and older individuals have displaced earlier representations of older bodies that were criticized as unflattering, asexual, or absent.
“New representations of sexy middle-aged and older individuals are becoming more commonplace, and have displaced what earlier observers have criticized as unflattering, asexual, or downright absent representations of older bodies (Vares, 2009; Walz, 2002).”
From Medicalization and the Refashioning of Age-Related Limits on Sexuality (2012) · cites this paper as Vares, 2009
Cited by
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Medicalization and the Refashioning of Age-Related Limits on Sexuality
Marshall, B. L. (2012) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499.2011.644597 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
- Authors
- Vares, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Canterbury (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Vares, Tiina
- ORCID
- Vares, Tiina
- Venue
- Sexualities
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2009-07-21
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 503-524
- ISSN
- 1363-4607 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7382
- OpenAlex
- W2136637447
- Cited by
- 98
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Sexualities (publishedVersion)
- UC Research Repository (University of Canterbury) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Canterbury
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Media, Gender, and Advertising
- Keywords
- embodiment, older women, media representation of aging, disgust, gender stereotypes, age stereotypes
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