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     * Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing
     * Research
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     * Older People’s Understandings of Sexuality (OPUS) Research
       Initiative

     * Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing
     * Research
     * Current projects and groups
     * Older People’s Understandings of Sexuality (OPUS) Research
       Initiative
          + Project aims
          + People
          + Partners
          + Research activity

Older People’s Understandings of Sexuality (OPUS) Research Initiative

   The Older People’s Understandings of Sexuality research initiative was
   established to investigate older people – generally those over 60 - and
   sexuality and intimacy – a much neglected topic.

   Its broader aims are to challenge stereotypes of older people as
   asexual or beyond or unworthy of being involved in sexual/intimate
   relations and to contribute to understandings of older people as sexual
   and intimate citizens. This will involve clarifying the realities of
   older people's personal lives and challenging stereotypes of them.

Ageing, sexuality as ridiculed or erased

   There are various reasons why OPUS is needed. Older people are often
   excluded from sexuality and intimacy in popular culture or they find
   their sexuality routinely ridiculed in so-called gifts or birthday
   cards. Golden Girls and Last Tango in Halifax (BBC series) are
   exceptions to the rule when there are few (positive) media images of
   older people’s sexuality. Despite the extension of choices over care,
   the subject is erased from or else marginal to government's,
   practitioners’ and academics' concerns.

   Sexuality/intimacy are often eclipsed by (and not included in)
   considerations of maintaining physical and emotional independence. We
   recognise that this state of affairs may be more acute and possibly
   more urgent for the oldest old or most physically and cognitively
   reliant on others who need to live in care homes.

   By 2030, two-thirds of the world’s population will be over 65. Our
   concerns then need to be placed in the context of national (British)
   demographic considerations. Given trends towards longevity among all
   social classes (and especially the more affluent and educated), Britain
   (like many other economically developed societies) is an ageing
   population. Census data show that there are 10.3 million people aged 65
   or over in the UK and whilst only 4.5% of these are living in care
   homes, this still amounts to half a million individuals.

   If longevity continues to improve, demands to address sexuality and
   intimacy in care or service provision and more widely in society and
   its institutions will grow, especially given that the baby-boomers who
   are now in midlife or reaching old age - brought up on the Rolling
   Stones and Led Zeppelin - will have experienced more tolerant attitudes
   and freedoms concerning sexual expression. This also concerns lesbian,
   gay, bisexual, trans and self-consciously ‘queer’ individuals who are
   now experiencing greater recognition and respect given moves towards
   equality.
   MICRA_Ageing

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     * Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing
     * Research
     * Current projects and groups
     * Older People’s Understandings of Sexuality (OPUS) Research
       Initiative
          + Project aims
          + People
          + Partners
          + Research activity