Alternative images of ageing
Exploring the portrayal of intimacy in later life
I am currently working on a research project about intimacy and sexual expression in long-term care facilities through participatory design approaches. The project aims to normalise intimacy and sexuality in care environments and is part of a joint PhD (2022–2026) at KU Leuven/LUCA School of Arts (B) and The University of Edinburgh/Edinburgh College of Art (UK).
As a visual-orientated design researcher, I was searching for images that could support conversations about intimacy and sexual pleasure with residents in long-term care facilities. However, there are very limited resources portraying intimacy in later life which made it quite difficult for me to communicate this sensitive topic. I wanted to better understand how intimacy between older adults is currently portrayed. I have searched on Google images for commercial advertisements and independent photographers specifically addressing the topic of intimacy with older adults. This medium post will help me to identify some directions for the next steps in my research project, especially when thinking of visual representations of intimacy in later life.
Introduction: Challenging ageism
With a background in communication design, I am mostly interested in how meaningful messages can be translated in visual ways that are accessible to a wider audience. Within my personal work, I have used photography as a participatory approach to challenge people’s perceptions of ageing. The photo series ‘Grey Power’ (Figure 1) is trying to tackle ageism by showing older adults as mundane superheroes based on children’s drawings of their grandparents. The images respond to the dominant story of decline people often have when thinking about ageing by providing a more positive and intergenerational perspective of older adults. The creation of these images required me to work together with schools to collect children’s drawings, textile designers to create cartoonist costumes, a professional photographer, and older adults living at home.
The Grey Power project was a starting point of ongoing research (and personal motivation) to use my creative practice in a collaborative way to break down the stigma of ageing. When looking at intimacy and ageing the following types of images can be identified:
1. Portraying older nude bodies
These images challenge the dominant and youth-obsessed beauty norm within Western societies by celebrating older ageing bodies (Figure 2). Dove (2008) was the first company to move away from the idea that you have to be young to be beautiful by launching a pro-age campaign. Jade Beall (2020) created the series ‘Wise Bodies, Beautiful Elders’ which portrays naked bodies of older adults. She points out rightly that “photographing elder men is more acceptable. But women are expected to be photoshopped to look like they really aren’t old.”
In contrast to the staged photographs mentioned before, mostly shot in a professional photo studio, there are also some examples considering people’s own homes and bedrooms as an intimate setting (Figure 3). Marrie Bot (2004) wanted to show the domestic eroticism of ordinary people in her photo series ‘Timeless Love’. Her photos show a very honest image where love in old age is not strange or dirty but very natural and common. Katrin Trautner (2009) portrays intimacy among seniors as a joyful and loving morning ritual, hence the title ‘Morning love’.
2. Ageing as sexy, passionate, and desirable
As a response to the asexual portrayal of older adults, these images want to show you can still be sexy, passionate, and desirable (Figure 4). Erwin Olaf was one of the pioneers with his ‘Mature’ series (1999) portraying older women as American pin-up models from the 1950’s. Tom Ford (2010) was guest editor of Vogue Paris and created a jewelry fashion shoot modeled by two senior citizens. Some would refer to this as geriatric porn. Jean Malek (2015) wanted to show that older people having sex is a sensual and beautiful thing. Marilyn Minter (2022) portrays older people with elegance and affection in her series ‘Elder sex’. She wanted to give elders permission to explore their sexual urges and erase the shame most people would feel. Lastly, Relate (2021) created the campaign ‘Let’s talk the joy of later life sex’ to break the age-old taboo and motivate to start talking about it. They discovered that only 20% of people in society (UK) think it’s okay to talk about sex in later life.
3. Sex-product advertisements for older adults
Some companies are promoting sexual pleasure in later life through sex products by raising awareness for sexual health problems (incontinence) and inclusive portrayals (Figure 5). Tena is the first UK advertisement campaign where women over 50 are openly talking about their sexuality and incontinence. They developed a sex toy that is both for sexual pleasure and reducing incontinenc. Replens sells a moisturizer for dry vaginas and the campaign ‘Sex never gets old’ highlights that people (with a range of ethnicities, ages, and sexualities) continue to have sex and intimacy well beyond their sixties.
4. Portraying queer and gender (non)conforming seniors
Queer and transgender seniors are even more invisible when considering intimacy in later life because of the strong heteronormativity, believing everyone is heterosexual and comfortable with the masculine or feminine gender norms. The 519 (2015) created a ‘Respect your elders’ campaign in Toronto to create awareness about LGBTQ-inclusive environments for older people and to speak up for their rights. Dugan (2018) captured the stories of transgender and gender nonconforming older adults in a book titled ‘To survive on this shore’.
Conclusion
These images are all contributing to breaking down the taboo of intimacy in later life by changing the narrative of ageing from ugly and asexual to beautiful, and desirable. However, my critique is that they are mostly reinforcing this positive image of successful ageing, ignoring the growing demographic of people with long-term care needs (at home and in care facilities). Therefore, I would like to work towards the creation of images that give a broad, honest, and diverse illustration of intimacy in later life considering:
- The environment: People with care needs who are living (or have a partner) in care facilities.
- Expressions of intimacy: A broader interpretation of intimacy that is less focused on hot steamy sex (e.g., penetration) but also shows physical and emotional tenderness.
- Inclusive: Representing diverse people (gender, ethnicity, abilities, sexual identity) and avoid showing older adults as a homogeneous group of people.
Note: The selected examples do not represent a complete overview of images that are created (I must have missed some) but can be seen as a starting point when searching for inspirational materials discussing intimacy in later life.
If you have a good suggestion or would like to talk further about the research project feel free to reach out at: yoni.lefevre@luca-arts.be
