Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The social and policy implications of non‐heterosexual ageing ‐ Selective findings

The social and policy implications of non‐heterosexual ageing ‐ Selective findings This brief paper presents selective findings from a project that explored the issue of ageing in a non‐heterosexual context, and the implications for social policy. The study generated studied the life circumstances of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals aged between the fifties and eighties, and generated prospective and retrospective data on non‐heterosexual ageing. There are diverse definitions and meanings of ‘old age’ among participants, and a range of possibilities exist for how ageing is negotiated. The participants acknowledged that ageing generally affects their self‐perception and the ways they live. The research documented a range of experience in terms of confidence in sexual identity and financial security. While a high proportion of the sample lived alone, many were in couple relationships. Relationships with families of origin, partners, and especially friendships, were considered important. Very few participants had made plans for old age or health crises, and only a small proportion believed that health professionals were positive towards their sexuality. Most considered care/residential homes as an undesirable housing option for old age. Most would like housing and support services to be gay‐friendly, but they were generally not confident about this prospect. The participants generally believed that they were discriminated on the basis of sexuality, and that older non‐heterosexuals were an invisible constituency to policy makers and service providers. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Quality in Ageing and Older Adults Emerald Publishing

The social and policy implications of non‐heterosexual ageing ‐ Selective findings

Download PDF
5 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/the-social-and-policy-implications-of-non-heterosexual-ageing-QuZq4c7Ijr

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 MCB UP Ltd. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1471-7794
DOI
10.1108/14717794200300005
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This brief paper presents selective findings from a project that explored the issue of ageing in a non‐heterosexual context, and the implications for social policy. The study generated studied the life circumstances of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals aged between the fifties and eighties, and generated prospective and retrospective data on non‐heterosexual ageing. There are diverse definitions and meanings of ‘old age’ among participants, and a range of possibilities exist for how ageing is negotiated. The participants acknowledged that ageing generally affects their self‐perception and the ways they live. The research documented a range of experience in terms of confidence in sexual identity and financial security. While a high proportion of the sample lived alone, many were in couple relationships. Relationships with families of origin, partners, and especially friendships, were considered important. Very few participants had made plans for old age or health crises, and only a small proportion believed that health professionals were positive towards their sexuality. Most considered care/residential homes as an undesirable housing option for old age. Most would like housing and support services to be gay‐friendly, but they were generally not confident about this prospect. The participants generally believed that they were discriminated on the basis of sexuality, and that older non‐heterosexuals were an invisible constituency to policy makers and service providers.

Journal

Quality in Ageing and Older Adults – Emerald Publishing

Published: Nov 1, 2003

Keywords: Gay; Lesbian; Non‐heterosexual; Sexuality; Social policy; Ageing

There are no references for this article.