Who's Afraid of Growing Old?

Abstract

This article is a study of how gay men and lesbian individuals perceive the aging process. The findings indicate that gay men have more negative views of how gay society views growing older and how they view their own growing older than do lesbian respondents. Gay men were also found to be more ageist, have a greater fear of negative evaluation by others, and give more importance to their own physical attractiveness. Implications for social work practice with elder homosexuals are addressed.

Key Words:

• Homosexuality
• aging
• gay men
• lesbians
• sexual orientation
• gay society
• ageism
• appearance orientation
• negative evaluation
• gender differences