Reimagining Politics and Power Relations

Abstract

This study has addressed middle-aged gay men’s stories of growing older in the context of metropolitan Manchester, though it has also drawn parallels and contrasts with scholarship on gay male ageing elsewhere, particularly that focused on the United States. I hope to have contributed to the broad literature on gendered sexuality, and deepened understanding of gay male ageing in particular and in terms of how the resources of ageing can work in ways that can lead to negotiate with and overcome disadvantages resulting from age enmeshed with other differences. I have also called attention to distinct forms of embodiment and midlife sexual and intimate citizenship — deemed more or less ‘authentic’ and legitimate — including heterosexualized and more hybrid ones beyond various gay scenes, as well as the political value of the friendship family for middle-aged/older gay men. Furthermore, I have examined how middle-aged gay men differentiate themselves, mainly from younger gay men but also from some peer-aged gay men and old gay men (and heterosexuals), and the consequences of various forms of reflexivity, resulting in different stories, but which also contribute to the multidirectional relations of ageism.