Old man gays
On the Older Men channel, you will get to know the active lives of old but sporty and charismatic men. Witness how these men, who prove that age is just a nu. But to the gay men in Gambone’s stories, the path to self-knowledge and emotional fulfillment is filled with thorny obstacles and, in some cases, dead ends. These fictional boomers are both proving and disproving the cliché that “old age isn’t for sissies.”.
In the LGBTQ community, there are numerous stories of self-discovery and identity, yet one subject remains deeply misunderstood—intergenerational relationships. Daniel Felsenthal, a year-old man, provides a rare glimpse into this experience, sharing his journey of loving much older men, including his year-old husband. Read, below, and check out a selection of 15 portraits from Complicit, which you can purchase here.
What specifically drew you to the portrait subjects of older gay men? Why do you feel it's important to highlight them? I wanted to make emotionally vulnerable portraits and intimate scenes of older men.
In the LGBTQ community,
Captured in Poth's signature black-and-white style, the photographs of each Old Gay member (Michael Peterson, Billy Lyons, Jesse L. Martin, & Robert E. Reeves), when juxtaposed with photos of. Aging and internalized homophobia among Brazilian gay elderly: a study of social representations. Envejecimiento y homofobia internalizada en adultos mayores homosexuales de Brasil: un estudio de las representaciones sociales.
I Mestrando. Brasil II Docente. This study aimed at analyzing social representations of Brazilian gay men concerning male aging, homosexuality and homophobia. Ten gay elder men, at the average age of To obtain the social representations, the free word association test was used, with the stimulus "male aging"; the responses were subjected to prototypical and similarity analysis with the software IRAMUTEQ.
The social representations of male aging showed negative aspects, such as sadness and loneliness, and positive ones, such as health and life experience, as well as sexuality. It is expected that data can contribute to new investigations and reflections on the aging of homosexual people, bringing life quality to that group. Participaron diez hombres mayores homosexuales, con una edad promedio de Se espera que los datos puedan contribuir a nuevas investigaciones y reflexiones sobre el envejecimiento de las personas homosexuales, aportando calidad de vida a este grupo.
As a worldwide phenomenon, aging causes changes in various contexts of society. This fact boosts health policies, social security, and the pharmaceutical and aesthetic market. Aging is a phenomenon that is common to all individuals, but it occurs idiosyncratically to each one, being influenced by biopsychosocial surroundings Neri, According to the United Nations projected data, one out of nine people in the world is 60 years old or older than that; a growth of 1 to every 5 is estimated.
Even facing the growth of life expectancy, it is known that the percentage of male population is much lower. Literature indicates that people of the male gender are more likely to present risky behavior and difficulty to adhere to preventive practices and health care Almeida et al. In relation to elderly gay men, one of the reasons for not going to health centers is the fear of suffering prejudice Antunes, The quantity of gay men at an old age shows us the reflex of the sexual prejudice, in which homophobia is responsible for the mortality of a countless number of homosexual people.
Not only does this refer to cases of aggression that cause death, but also to suicide cases when there is not a family or psychosocial support adequate to the necessities of the homosexual person. Related to that, risky sexual behaviors that propagate sexually transmissible infections also contribute to the invisibility of the LGBT aged person. It can be identified that the aging of a gay man is related to sexual orientation and homophobia.
A high number of homosexual people have internalized homophobia, which is the result of prejudice and of moralist, religious and traditionalist contents, based on traditions of past centuries. This makes the homosexual persons to internalize the prejudice, without admitting their sexuality to society Antunes, ; Vries, In a previous research, it was demonstrated that elderly gay people were forced by their families to have a cisgender heterosexual relationship, as marriage, for decades, was understood as being irrefutable.
Within this context, homosexual aged persons experiment twice as much prejudice, for their sexual orientation and for being in this age group.
In some cases, old gay people are still "in the closet", and, in other cases, they have only admitted their condition to their family and friends at an old age Mota, This development phase is full of negative stereotypes, such as frailty, loss of libido and dependence. Sexual orientation is a determinant factor to differentiate aspects regarding the health of the LGBT elderly people. However, there are other aspects, such as income, physical fitness and mental health Fredriksen-Goldsen et al.
The first studies carried out on gay aging emphasize negative stereotypes, such as loneliness, depression and promiscuity Henning, In a recent study carried out with old people on social representations of the LGBT old age showed the prejudice and the invisibility of the LGBT old persons among people of their own cohort Salgado et al.