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Changing Sexual Practices in New Intimate Relationships in Later Life – A Life Course Perspective
Stockholms Universitet.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6096-2752
University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Social Work and Psychology, Social work.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0295-898x
2014 (English)In: 8th International Conference on Cultural Gerontology: Programme and Abstracts, 2014, p. 138-138Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

It has been argued that in late modernity sex has escaped its reproductive cage and people form pure relationships, based on mutual satisfaction. Ironically, although older people are per definition non-­‐reproductive, they have often been neglected in studies on sexuality. In this paper we present results from 1) a qualitative interview study with a strategic sample of 28 63–91 year old Swedes currently dating or in a heterosexual relationship (married, cohabiting, LAT) initiated 60+ and 2) a quantitative survey including answers from 1225 60–90 year old Swedes. The interviews revealed a clear normative  change,  from  a  cultural  context  that  condemned  extra-­‐marital  sex  in young adulthood  to  a context  encouraging  sexual  relationships  but  not  marriage in later  life.  All  had experienced  the  sexual  liberation  of  the  1960s,  and today, these liberal  attitudes  seem  to encompass later life. Today, an active sex-­‐life is regarded as important for a good relationship and sexual attraction was seen as a precondition for newrelationships. Many informants had interpreted sexual decline in former relationships as “natural ageing”, but re-­‐discovered sexuality with their new partner. In the survey, a majority (93 %) had had their sexual debut before marriage (despite the restrictive norms). Half or the respondents have had ≥ 4 sexual partners, and one in five ≥ 10. Sexual activity correlated negatively with relationship length. It has often been argued that sexual values and practices will become more liberal in the future by cohort replacement. Our data indicates that “the future might already be here”.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2014. p. 138-138
Keywords [en]
relationships, older people, sexuality, 60+
National Category
Geriatrics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-20807OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-20807DiVA, id: diva2:877894
Conference
8th International Conference on Cultural Gerontology, 10–12 April 2014, National University of Ireland, Galway
Part of project
New intimate relations in later life - Changed forms of intimacy in late modern society, Forte
Funder
Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, P11-0909:1Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2009-00720Available from: 2015-12-08 Created: 2015-12-08 Last updated: 2022-09-19Bibliographically approved

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Bildtgård, TorbjörnÖberg, Peter

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CiteExportLink to record
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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • sv-SE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
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  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • de-DE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf