1. (Brian Heaphy 2007)
By Alexandra Lawton and Natalie Lumb

2.  Some studies argue that older lesbians and
gay men can find ageing less problematic
than heterosexual people
 …however on the other hand research has
also pointed out that some lesbians and gay
men risk being particularly lonely and
isolated in old age.

3.  Sexuality can be seen as a social construction
due to the values that have been historically
embedded in the societies we live in.
 Ginn and Arber (1995: 1–3) note that ageing
and gender have not until recently been
integrated in sociological thought and their
combined influence has been largely ignored.
 They also argue that there are significant
benefits to be gained from placing sexuality at
the centre of our sociological analyses.
 The fact sexuality is often seen as a private
matter can be an issue for research however.

4.  Many lesbians in later life are likely to be
disadvantaged by gendered processes in the
labour market
 Dunne (1997) has argued that economic
independence is a key factor of many non-
heterosexual women’s lives.
 Some older non-heterosexual women believe
their sexuality has led them to traditionally
‘masculine’ areas of work, which are generally
paid better than traditional ‘feminised’ jobs.

5.  Number studies researched implications that
non-heterosexuality has on gendered patterns of
unpaid domestic work:
- Generally on younger women/men
- Suggest tendency for non-heterosexual
households to adopt co-independent stance in
terms of financial and material resources.
- Also tendency to actively negotiate roles in
relation to domestic tasks.
- This has led some to characterise same-sex
households as ‘egalitarian’ and ‘ungendered’
spheres.

6.  Giddens (1992) has argued that heterosexual
couple and marriage relationships are
becoming similar to same-sex relationships in
that both partners meet as ‘equals’.
- Related to women’s increasing ‘equality’ in the
labour market.
- Consequence: heterosexual men and women
more equally resourced later in life and have
more equal marriage and domestic
relationships.
- Caution: several studies show women continue
to perform the bulk of domestic, emotional
and caring work.

7.  Research suggests older gay men are more
likely to live alone.
 Women more likely to have stronger social
networks.
 Men and women ‘do’ relationships with
family and personal communities
differently:
- Women highly value emotional and
relational connectedness.
- Men adopt more independent stance.

8.  Diverse possibilities exist for how non-
heterosexual women and men experience and
negotiate ageing.
 Ageing in a non-heterosexual context can,
for example, sometimes mean that
individuals are less aware of the ageing
process.

9.  Theorists of lesbian and gay life have
conceptualised sexual communities as
radical social and political developments
(Plummer 1995).
- Argue these communities played crucial role
in opening up social, cultural, political and
individual possibilities, and in generating
resources/ social capital.
- As such these communities are viewed as
self-made forms of socialising and support.

10.  It is older gay men who are most likely to tell
stories of the implications of age for a sense
of ‘exclusion’ from the scenes and groups
that they perceive to make up sexual
communities (Heaphy et al., 2004).
 Whether the consequences of youth-
orientated communities and scenes or overt
ageism, many men shared a belief that their
ageing bodies mark them as unwelcome in
gay identified places.

11.  On the one hand, non-heterosexual
experience illuminates possibilities that
exist for reconfiguring given meanings and
practices as they relate to gendered living
and ageing.
 On the other hand, non-heterosexual
experience also indicates the resilience of
hegemonic meanings and institutionalised
practices as they relate to gender and
ageing.
 Non-heterosexual experience further
illuminates the uneven implications of
social change for agency in relation to
gendered ageing.