830
Views
4
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Sexuality of midlife and older women: A review of theory use

References

  • Abell, J., Stokoe, E. H., & Billig, M. (2000). Narrative and the discursive (re)construction of events. In M. Andrews, S. D. Sclater, C. Squire, & A. Treacher (Eds.), Lines of narrative: Psychosocial perspectives (pp. 180–192). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Alley, D. E., Putney, N. M., Rice, M., & Bengtson, V. L. (2010). The increasing use of theory in social gerontology: 1990–2004. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 65B(5), 583–590. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbq053
  • Alwin, D. F. (2012). Integrating varieties of life course concepts. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67B(2), 206–220. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbr146
  • Baldissera, V. D. A., Bueno, S. M. V., & Hoga, L. A. K. (2012). Improvement of older women’s sexuality through emancipatory education. Health Care for Women International, 33(10), 956–972. doi:10.1080/07399332.2012.684986
  • Baumeister, R. (2000). Gender differences in erotic plasticity: The female sex drive as socially flexible and responsive. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 347–374.
  • Bengtson, V. L., Burgess, E. O., & Parrott, T. M. (1997). Theory, explanation, and a third generation of theoretical development in social gerontology. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 52B(2), S72–S88. doi:10.1093/geronb/52B.2.S72
  • Bengston, V. L., & Settersten, R. A. (2016). Handbook of theories on aging. New York, NY: Springer.
  • Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
  • Bhaskar, R. (1989). Reclaiming reality: A critical introduction to contemporary philosophy. London, UK: Verso.
  • Birren, J. E., & Bengston, V. L. (Eds.). (1988). Emergent theories of aging. New York, NY: Springer.
  • Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  • Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S. (1982). Qualitative research for education. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
  • Bradway, K. E., & Beard, R. L. (2015). “Don’t be trying to box folks in”: Older women’s sexuality. Affilia, 30(4), 504–518. doi:10.1177/0886109914560741
  • Calasanti, T. M., & Slevin, K. F. (2006). Age matters: Realigning feminist thinking. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
  • Carpenter, L. M. (2010). Gendered sexuality over the life course: A conceptual framework. Sociological Perspectives, 53(2), 155–178. doi:10.1525/sop.2010.53.2.155
  • Charmaz, K. (2003). Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Collins, J. A., & Fauser, B. C. J. M. (2005). Balancing the strengths of systematic and narrative reviews. Human Reproduction Update, 11(2), 103–104.
  • Connidis, I. A. (2006). Intimate relationships: Learning from later life experience. In T. M. Calasanti & K. F. Slevin (Eds.), Age matters: Realigning feminist thinking (pp. 123–153). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
  • Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. New York, NY: Sage.
  • Cresswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Crotty, M. (1998). The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 20, 43−65.
  • de Beauvior, S. (1972). The coming of age. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
  • Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 1–32). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Diamond, L. M. (2008). Sexual fluidity: Understanding women’s love and desire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Diamond, L. M. (2012). The desire disorder in research on sexual orientation in women: Contributions of dynamical systems theory. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41(1), 73–83. doi:10.1007/s10508-012-9909-7
  • Drummond, J. D., Brotman, S., Silverman, M., Sussman, T., Orzeck, P., Barylak, L., & Wallach, I. (2013). The impact of caregiving: Older women’s experiences of sexuality and intimacy. Affilia, 28(4), 415–428. doi:10.1177/0886109913504154
  • Elder, G. H. (1991). Lives and social change. In W. R. Heinz (Ed.), Theoretical advances in life course research (pp. 58–86). Weinheim, Germany: Deutscher Studien Verlag.
  • Engel, G. L. (1977). The need for a new medical model: A challenge for biomedicine. Science, 196, 129–136.
  • Engel, G. L. (1980). The clinical application of the biopsychosocial model. American Journal of Psychiatry 137(5), 535–544.
  • Fabbre, V. (2014). Gender transitions in later life: The significance of time in queer aging. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 57(2–4), 161–175. doi:10.1080/01634372.2013.855287
  • Federal Agency Forum. (2012). Older Americans 2012: Key indicators of well-being. Washington, DC: Federal Agency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics.
  • Fileborn, B., Thorpe, R., Hawkes, G., Minichiello, V., & Pitts, M. (2015a). Sex and the (older) single girl: Experiences of sex and dating in later life. Journal of Aging Studies, 33, 67–75. doi:10.1016/j.jaging.2015.02.002
  • Fileborn, B., Thorpe, R., Hawkes, G., Minichiello, V., Pitts, M., & Dune, T. (2015b). Sex, desire and pleasure: Considering the experiences of older Australian women. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 30(1), 117–130. doi:10.1080/14681994.2014.936722
  • Freidan, B. (1963). The feminine mystique. New York, NY: W. W. Norton.
  • Friedan, B. (1993). The fountain of age. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
  • Freire, P. (1987). Pedagogia do oprimido [Pedagogy of the oppressed] (17th ed.). São Paulo, Brazil: Paz e Terra.
  • Gans, D., Putney, N. M., Bengston, V. L., & Silverstein, M. (2009). Handbook of theories of aging. New York, NY: Springer.
  • Garrard, J. (2014). Health sciences literature review made easy: The Matrix Method. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
  • Gilbert, E., Ussher, J. M., & Perz, J. (2010). Sexuality after breast cancer: A review. Mauritius, 66(4), 397–407.
  • Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). Discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
  • Harding, S. (1987). Feminism and methodology: Social science issues. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
  • Havighurst, R. L. (1961). Successful aging: Definition and measurement. Journal of Gerontology, 16(2), 134–43.
  • Hendricks, J., Applebaum, R., & Kunkel, S. (2010). A world apart? Bridging the gap between theory and applied social gerontology. The Gerontologist, 50(3), 284–293. doi:10.1093/geront/gnp167
  • Hinchliff, S., & Gott, M. (2008). Challenging social myths and stereotypes of women and aging: Heterosexual women talk about sex. Journal of Women & Aging, 20(1–2), 65–81. doi:10.1300/J074v20n01_06
  • Holstein, M. (2015). Women in late life: Critical perspectives on gender and age. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
  • hooks, b. (1994). Outlaw culture. New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Hunter, M. S., & O’Dea, I. (1997). Menopause: Bodily changes and multiple meanings. In J. Ussher (Ed.), Body talk: The material and discursive regulation of sexuality, madness, and reproduction (pp. 199–222). London, UK: Routledge.
  • Hurd Clarke, L. (2006). Older women and sexuality: Experiences in marital relationships across the life course. Canadian Journal on Aging/La Revue Canadienne du Vieillissement, 25(2), 129–140. doi:10.1353/cja.2006.0034
  • Hurd Clarke, L. (2011). Facing age: Women growing older in anti-aging culture. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Jaccard, J., & Jacoby, J. (2010). Theory construction and model-building skills: A practical guide for social scientists. New York, NY: Guilford.
  • Jones, R. L. (2002). “That’s very rude, I shouldn’t be telling you that”: Older women talking about sex. Narrative Inquiry, 12(1), 121–143. doi:10.1075/ni.12.1
  • Joyce, K., & Mamo, L. (2006). Graying the cyborg. In T. M. Calasanti & K. F. Slevin (Eds.), Age matters: Realigning feminist thinking (pp. 99–122). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Kaschak, E. (1992). Engendered lives: A new psychology of women’s experience. New York, NY: Basic Books.
  • Kaschak, E. & Tiefer, L. (Eds.) (2001). A new view of women's sexual problems. New York, NY: Haworth Press.
  • King, N. (2006). The lengthening list of oppressions: Age relations and the feminist study of inequality. In T. M. Calasanit & K. F. Slevin (Eds.), Age matters: Realigning feminist thinking (pp. 47–74). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Koch, P. B., Mansfield, P. K., Thurau, D., & Carey, M. (2005). “Feeling frumpy”: The relationships between body image and sexual response changes in midlife women. The Journal of Sex Research, 42(3), 215–223. doi:10.1080/00224490509552276
  • Laganà, L., & Maciel, M. (2010). Sexual desire among Mexican-American older women: A qualitative study. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 12(6), 705–719. doi:10.1080/13691058.2010.482673
  • Loe, M. (2004). Sex and the senior woman: Pleasure and danger in the Viagra era. Sexualities, 7(3), 303–326. doi:10.1177/1363460704044803
  • Mahoney, A. (2008). Is it possible for Christian women to be sexual? Women & Therapy, 31(1), 89–106. doi:10.1300/02703140802145250
  • Marshall, B. L., & Katz, S. (2006). From androgyny to androgens: Resexing the aging body. In T. M. Calasanti & K. F. Slevin (Eds.), Age matters: Realigning feminist thinking (pp. 75–98). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Maxwell, N., Scourfield, J., Featherstone, B., Holland, S., & Tolman, R. (2012). Engaging fathers in child welfare services: A narrative review of recent research evidence. Child & Family Social Work, 17(2), 160–169. doi:10.1111/cfs.2012.17.issue-2
  • Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self and society. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
  • Montemurro, B., & Gillen, M. M. (2013). Wrinkles and sagging flesh: Exploring transformations in women’s sexual body image. Journal of Women & Aging, 25(1), 3–23. doi:10.1080/08952841.2012.720179
  • Montemurro, B., & Siefken, J. M. (2014). Cougars on the prowl? New perceptions of older women’s sexuality. Journal of Aging Studies, 28, 35–43. doi:10.1016/j.jaging.2013.11.004
  • Morell, C. M. (2003). Empowerment and long-living women: Return to the rejected body. Journal of Aging Studies, 17, 69–85. doi:10.1016/S0890-4065(02)00091-9
  • Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Murtagh, M. J., & Hepworth, J. (2005). Narrative review of changing medical and feminist perspectives on menopause: From femininity and ageing to risk and choice. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 10(3), 276–290. doi:10.1080/13548500500093225
  • National Institute of Aging. (2011). Menopause: Time for a change. Retrieved from https://d2cauhfh6h4x0p.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/menopause_time_for_a_change_0.pdf
  • Peplau, L. A. (2001). Distinguished scholar article rethinking women’s sexual orientation: An interdisciplinary, relationship-focused approach. Personal Relationships, 8(1), 1–19. doi:10.1111/pere.2001.8.issue-1
  • Perz, J., & Ussher, J. M. (2008). “The horror of this living decay”: Women’s negotiation and resistance of medical discourses around menopause and midlife. Women’s Studies International Forum, 31, 293–299. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2008.05.003
  • Pringle, R. (1992). Absolute sex? Unpacking the sexuality/gender relationship. In R. Connell & G. Dowsett (Eds.), Rethinking sex: Social theory and sexuality research (pp. 76–101). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
  • Ray, R. E. (2006). The personal as political: The legacy of Betty Friedan. In T. M. Calasanti & K. F. Slevin (Eds.), Age matters: Realigning feminist thinking (pp. 21–46). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Ray, R. E., & Fine, M. (1999). Researching to transgress: The need for critical feminism in gerontology. Journal of Women & Aging, 11(2–3), 171–184. doi:10.1300/J074v11n02_12
  • Rowe, J. W., & Kahn, R. L. (1998). Successful aging. New York, NY: Dell.
  • Sandberg, L. (2013). Affirmative old age: The ageing body and feminist theories on difference. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 8(1), 11–40.
  • Somerville, S. B. (2007). Queer. In B. Burgett & G. Hendler (Eds.), Keywords for American cultural studies (pp. 187–191). New York, NY: New York University Press.
  • Sondergaard, D. M. (2002). Poststructuralist approaches to empirical analysis. Qualitative Studies in Education, 15(2), 187 204.
  • Steinem, G. (2006). Doing sixty & seventy. San Francisco, CA: Elders Academy Press.
  • Tesch, R. (1990). Qualitative research: Analysis types and software tools. Bedford, UK: LSL Press.
  • Tiefer, L. (2001). A new view of women's sexual problems: Why new? Why now? The Journal of Sex Research, 38(2), 89–96.
  • Thorpe, R., Fileborn, B., Hawkes, G., Pitts, M., & Minichiello, V. (2015). Old and desirable: Older women’s accounts of ageing bodies in intimate relationships. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 30(1), 156–166. doi:10.1080/14681994.2014.959307
  • Ussher, J. M. (2000). Women’s madness: A material-discursive-intra psychic approach. In D. Fee (Ed.) Psychology and the postmodern: Mental illness as discourse and experience (pp. 207–230). London, UK: Sage.
  • Ussher, J. M., Perz, J., & Gilbert, E. (2014). Women’s sexuality after cancer: A qualitative analysis of sexual changes and renegotiation. Women & Therapy, 37(3–4), 205–221. doi:10.1080/02703149.2014.897547
  • Ussher, J. M., Perz, J., & Parton, C. (2015). Sex and the menopausal woman: A critical review and analysis. Feminism & Psychology, 25(4), 449–468. doi:10.1177/0959353515579735
  • Vares, T., Potts, A., Gavey, N., & Grace, V. M. (2007). Reconceptualizing cultural narratives of mature women’s sexuality in the Viagra era. Journal of Aging Studies, 21, 153–164. doi:10.1016/j.jaging.2006.08.002
  • Willig, C. (2001). Introducing qualitative research in psychology: Adventures in theory and method. Berkshire, UK: Open University Press.
  • Wilson, R. A. (1966). Feminine forever—The amazing new breakthrough in the sex life of women. New York, NY: Evans.
  • Winterich, J. A. (2003). Sex, menopause, and culture: Sexual orientation and the meaning of menopause for women’s sex lives. Gender & Society, 17(4), 627–642. doi:10.1177/0891243203253962
  • Woloski-Wruble, A. C., Oliel, Y., Leefsma, M., & Hochner-Celnikier, D. (2010). Sexual activities, sexual and life satisfaction, and successful aging in women. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7(7), 2401–2410. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01747.x

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.