Gender Transitions in Later Life: The Significance of Time in Queer Aging

Abstract

Concepts of time are ubiquitous in studies of aging. This article integrates an existential perspective on time with a notion of queer time based on the experiences of older transgender persons who contemplate or pursue a gender transition in later life. Interviews were conducted with male-to-female identified persons aged 50 years or older (N = 22), along with participant observation at three national transgender conferences (N = 170 hr). Interpretive analyses suggest that an awareness of “time left to live” and a feeling of “time served” play a significant role in later life development and help expand gerontological perspectives on time and queer aging.

KEYWORDS:

• GLBT populations
• GLBT issues
• gender
• qualitative

Notes

1. ¹ All names in this article are pseudonyms and details have been changed to protect participants’ confidentiality.