Full Description
As the first generation of gay men enters its autumn years, these men's responses to the physical and emotional tolls of aging promise to be as revolutionary as their advances in AIDS and civil rights activism. Older gay men's approaches to friendship, caregiving, romantic and sexual relationships, illness, and bereavement is upending conventional wisdom regarding the aging process, LGBTQ communities, and the entire field of gerontology.
QUEER AGING comprises scholar Jesus Ramirez-Valles's probing conversations with 11 racially and economically diverse representatives of this pioneering generation of gay men-the gayby boomers. Through candid, first-person narratives, Ramirez-Valles's subjects reflect on their varied experiences as late career professionals, retirees, AIDS survivors, caregivers for ailing partners, and witnesses to profound social and cultural change. Framed within a larger introduction to both Queer Theory and its history, these reflections provide context for understanding the aging arc and experience of older gay men.
Spanning sociology, history, cultural studies, and social work, QUEER AGING will be a vital resource for students as well as health professionals who serve the gay community and communities of color.
Contents
Preface
1: Introduction: Queering Gerontology
2: Stan:"If I'm left, then I have to be the best little gay boy ever"
3: Anthony: " It has to be something else to this"
4: Marvin: "I learned very early that it's not just about being gay"
5: Robert: "I'm a pusher and I don't like to hear the word 'no'"
6: Ramiro: "My family is really my gay friends"
7: Grand: "I am a humanitarian"
8: Charlie:"...being older and being by yourself"
9: Adam:"...age is just a number. I don't necessarily put much stock in it"
10: Jesse:"I am a chameleon. I adapt to whatever you throw me into"
11: Louis: "I'm always meeting the underdog people"
12: Jimmy: "The party came to a crashing end"
13: The Praxis of Queer Gerontology
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