scholarly journals On the Hunt for Noble Savages: Romance Tourism and Ageing Femininities

Societies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Ieva Stončikaitė
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Casual Sex ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Information Campaigns ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Romance Tourism

Casual sexual encounters are closely wedded to leisure travel, and have received a lot of attention in both theoretical and empirical work. However, the relationship between romance tourism and female ageing remains largely under-researched. This article offers critical insights into the interplay of the successful ageing and sexual relationships abroad of older women travellers. It shows that romance tourism has both positive and negative implications for women’s physical and psychological health and wellbeing. Although exotic escapes help reconnect women with their youthful selves, enhancing a sense of self-confidence and challenging the narrative of decline, casual sex may also generate conflicting feelings once the travel romance is over. This article also encourages the rethinking of the complexities of ageing femininities, sexual activity and health risk in ‘silver’ romance tourism today. Additionally, it argues that the sexual health guidelines and information campaigns should adopt a more multifaceted approach to sexual expressions, and encourage alternative views towards sex and sexuality in later life, in order to not create a rather oppressive ideology among older women.

Beauty in Later Life: Older Women's Perceptions of Physical Attractiveness

2002 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura C. Hurd Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Physical Attractiveness ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Women’S Perceptions ◽  
Fashion Models ◽  
Beauty Ideals ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
Using Data

ABSTRACTUsing data from 96 hours of semi-structured interviews with women aged 61 to 92, this paper explores the meanings that older women attribute to beauty and aging. The women in my study tend to equate physical attractiveness with youthfulness and slimness. However, they reject the extremes of thinness embodied in today's fashion models and actresses. Even as they disparage obese individuals, the women argue that thin older women appear scrawny. The women express a preference for more rounded female bodies than current beauty standards allow and emphasize the importance of inner beauty. While some women view their wrinkles negatively, others suggest that their facial creases are badges of honour. I argue that older women do not simply internalize beauty ideals to the detriment of their sense of self. Rather, older women resist and challenge current ideals of feminine attractiveness and suggest alternative beauty ideals and definitions of personal desirability.

scholarly journals Evidence of Gender Violence Negative Impact on Health as a Lever to Change Adolescents’ Attitudes and Preferences towards Dominant Traditional Masculinities

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (18) ◽  
pp. 9610
Author(s):  
Maria Padrós Padrós Cuxart ◽  
Silvia Molina Molina Roldán ◽  
Elena Gismero ◽  
Itxaso Tellado
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Violent Relationships ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Physical And Psychological Health ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
The Impact

Women and girls experience gender violence from a young age. Scientific research has presented evidence of the negative impact of toxic relationships and toxic stress on physical and psychological health. However, less is known on how this evidence can have a preventive effect. Knowing these impacts can be important for women and girls to decide the type of affective-sexual relationships they want to have, and even transform their attraction towards different types of masculinity. This study presents results from the MEMO4LOVE project. Researchers use mixed-methods approaches, including a questionnaire (n = 141) to study adolescents’ peer groups’ interactions that promoted healthy or toxic affective-sexual relationships, and five communicative focus groups with boys and girls to analyze how these interactions can be transformed by sharing scientific knowledge on the effects of violent relationships with adolescents. The results showed the impact of sharing with adolescents the evidence of the adverse effects of toxic relationships with violent masculinities on health. The peer group’s transformation occurred: non-violent boys gained self-confidence, and girls redirected or reinforced their attraction to non-violent boys. These results suggest the potential positive effects of knowing the impacts of toxic relationships on girls’ health.

Older Women and Sexuality: Experiences in Marital Relationships across the Life Course

2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hurd Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Sexual Interest ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Sexual Scripts ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTRates of sexual activity have been found to decline over the life course, as individuals experience marital transitions and the loss of partners, health problems, and decreased sexual interest. This article compares and contrasts earlier- and later-life sexual experiences and examines the changing meanings that older women ascribe to sexuality over the life course. Qualitative data from a study involving 24 women aged 52 to 90 who were remarried after age 50 illuminate a shift, as individuals age, from an emphasis on the importance of sexual intercourse and passion to a greater valuing of companionship, cuddling, affection, and intimacy. Situating the discussion in the context of changing cultural norms and sexual scripts, the article investigates the impact of health conditions on the women's sexual relationships as well as the women's tendency to have later-life sexual experiences more positive than were their earlier sexual experiences.

“That’s very rude, I shouldn’t be telling you that”

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Older People ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Cultural Resource ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Counter Narratives

This paper discusses narratives created during interviews with 23 older women (aged 61–90) about their experiences of sex and intimate relationships in later life. For analytic purposes, the paper understands narratives to be neither pre-existing nor a simple reflection of experience, but to be made moment-by-moment in the interaction between parties drawing on available cultural resources. Attention to the interactional situation in which the narrative is produced helps to explain the ways in which speakers perpetuate or resist dominant cultural storylines. Older women’s accounts of sexual relationships provide a particularly rich site for this analysis because a dominant cultural storyline of ‘asexual older people’ is often evident in popular culture. This storyline provides an important cultural resource which older women who are talking about sex can both draw on and resist in order to produce their own accounts. This paper uses a discourse analytic approach to discuss some of the moments in which speakers explicitly produce counter-narratives. These moments are visible to the analyst by the participants’ own orientations to telling a counter-narrative. The paper also considers parts of the accounts which the analyst identifies as counter-narratives, although the speakers do not orient to this. The analyst’s own position is thus implicated in the analysis and is reflexively considered.

Older Women in New Romantic Relationships

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy K. Watson ◽  
Charlie Stelle ◽  
Nancy Bell
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Collective Narratives ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Depth Interviews

Although research has found that sexual activity declines with age, most of this literature examines people in long-term marriages. Little is known about the initiation of new sexual relationships in later life. In-depth interviews with 14 women aged 64 to 77 years were conducted to examine their personal and collective narratives regarding sexuality in later life. In contrast to common perceptions, none of the participants felt that aging had negatively impacted their own sexuality. For many, this was a time in their lives when they were experiencing renewed sexual desire and enjoyment. Even though sex might not have held the same priority as when they were younger, it held a place of importance in their romantic relationships. The discussion focuses on understanding women’s sexual relationships and behaviors within the context of their cohort and lives.

scholarly journals Family Ties: Women's Work and Family Histories and their Association with Incomes in Later Life in the UK

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
TOM SEFTON ◽  
MARIA EVANDROU ◽  
JANE FALKINGHAM
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Positive Finding ◽  
Work History ◽  
Family Histories ◽  
Public Transfers ◽  
Work Histories ◽  
Personal Incomes

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between the family and work histories of older women and their personal incomes in later life, using retrospective data from the first 15 waves of the British Household Panel Survey. The association between women's family histories and their incomes later in life are relatively weak, explaining only a small proportion of the overall variation in older women's incomes. Divorce, early widowhood and re-marriage are not associated with any significant differences in older women's incomes, while motherhood is only associated with a small reduction in incomes later in life. While there are significant differences in the work histories of older women with different family histories, this translates into relatively small differences in their personal incomes, because the types of employment career pursued by most women are not associated with significantly higher retirement incomes and because public transfers dampen work history-related differentials, especially for widows. On the one hand, this could be seen as a positive finding in that the ‘pension penalty’ associated with life-course events such as motherhood and divorce is not as severe as often anticipated. On the other hand, the main reason for this is that the pension returns to working longer are relatively low, particularly for women with few qualifications. The analysis suggests that women retiring over the next two decades are unlikely to benefit significantly from the additional years they have spent in employment, because most of this increase has been in part-time employment. The article highlights the tensions between two objectives: rewarding work, and protecting the most vulnerable, such as carers, long-term disabled and unemployed. Resolving this dilemma involves moving away from a close association between pension entitlements and work history and towards universal entitlement based on a citizen's pension.

Developing a sense of self-reliance: caregivers of infants with single-ventricle heart disease during the interstage period

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Flerida Imperial-Perez ◽  
MarySue V. Heilemann ◽  
Lynn V. Doering ◽  
Jo-Ann Eastwood ◽  
Nancy A. Pike
Keyword(s):  
Heart Disease ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Single Ventricle ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Home Monitoring ◽  
Palliative Surgery ◽  
Constructivist Grounded Theory ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
Second Surgery

Abstract Background: Caring for infants after the first-stage palliative surgery for single-ventricle heart disease bring challenges beyond the usual parenting responsibilities. Current studies fail to capture the nuances of caregivers’ experiences during the most critical “interstage” period between the first and second surgery. Objectives: To explore the perceptions of caregivers about their experiences while transitioning to caregiver roles, including the successes and challenges associated with caregiving during the interstage period. Methods: Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology guided the collection and analysis of data from in person or telephonic interviews with caregivers after their infants underwent the first-stage palliative surgery for single-ventricle heart disease, and were sent to home for 2–4 months before returning for their second surgery. Symbolic interactionism informed data analyses and interpretation. Results: Our sample included 14 parents, who were interviewed 1–2 times between November, 2019 and July, 2020. Most patients were mothers (71%), Latinx (64%), with household incomes <$30K (42%). Data analysis led to the development of a Grounded Theory called Developing a Sense of Self-Reliance with three categories: (1) Owning caregiving responsibilities despite grave fears, (2) Figuring out how “to make it work” in the interstage period, and (3) Gaining a sense of self-reliance. Conclusions: Parents transitioned to caregiver roles by developing a sense of self-reliance and, in the process, gained self-confidence and decision-making skills. Our study responded to the key research priority from the AHA Scientific Statement to address the knowledge gap in home monitoring for interstage infants through qualitative research design.

Growing Older

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 707-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Terrill ◽  
Judith Gullifer
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Structured Interviews

This study explored experiences of eight rural, Anglo-Australian women aged between 65 and 75 using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed three prominent themes: (a) the free and busy me highlights the increased freedom in later life enabling choices regarding activities the women would like to engage in; (b) the secret is being positive and pragmatic emphasizes the importance of adopting a pragmatic acceptance of growing older; and (c) narratives of growth and stagnation highlights the pursuit of growth among older women in order to enhance the current self. Findings emphasize the construction of later life as one of liberation, resilience and growth.

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