Later-life masculinities: (Re)forming the gendered lives of older men

Thomas, Gareth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4959-2337 and Thurnell-Read, Thomas 2024. Later-life masculinities: (Re)forming the gendered lives of older men. Men and Masculinities 27 (2) , pp. 190-209. 10.1177/1097184X241231917

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Abstract

Older men are often treated as homogenous, a-gendered, and unmasculine. Drawing on 52 interviews with older men who play walking football in the UK, we explore how their experiences can be understood through a lens of masculinity. Men claimed that walking football offers an outlet for both competition and displaying physical prowess. Their embodied performances were crucial for cultivating a masculine identity which, whilst threatened by the ageing process, sustained their privilege and status. Yet, men also described how modes of care, friendship, and interdependence became central to their experiences. As men aged, the constraints around expressing feelings of intimacy, on account of hegemonic norms recognised in their youth, were loosened. Via the empirical analysis presented, the article contributes to both the study of the lives of older men and the continued absence of older men in masculinity theory.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	1097-184X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	26 January 2024
Date of Acceptance:	25 January 2024
Last Modified:	17 Jun 2024 13:42
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/165841

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