ABSTRACT
Societal understandings of, and expectations about, sex in later life reflect and reinforce deeply entrenched ageist and sexist norms. This chapter considers which sexual rights are important for heterosexual older women from diverse backgrounds and how a sexual rights framework might be beneficial for the promotion and protection of the sexual expression of diverse older women. It discusses the ways in which older women's sexual rights are shaped and constrained by structural factors such as age, ethnicity, gender norms, race, sexual orientation and social class. The chapter examines the influence of gendered ageism and heterosexual norms on sexual rights as they apply in both the public and private domains, including sexual expression in the home, alone, with intimate partners and in institutional and aged care settings. Sex and sexuality tend to be framed in narrow, heteronormative ways within the bulk of current research on sex in later life.
