ABSTRACT
In July 2013 The Australian Women’s Weekly magazine contained an interview with Jane Fonda about her life as a Hollywood actor. The feature made reference to Fonda’s many accolades, including the Oscars she had won (two, but nominated for more), her successful fight against breast cancer, the seven books she had authored, her status as a feminist icon of the 1970s, and her longevity in the ‘fickle’ Hollywood film industry. Clearly, the message went, this was a woman who had achieved a lot in her 75 years and was to be celebrated. But in the midst of this praise the feature took an interesting turn when it asserted that ‘perhaps the most startling thing about the actress and L’Oreal ambassador is that, at 75, she is still having sex. Lots of it, apparently, and it’s never been better’. The shock that comes from knowing that people (or is it just women?) are sexually active in their mid-seventies, and that they enjoy it, provides evidence of the persistence of the stereotype of an ‘asexual old age’. This stereotype endures despite much evidence to the contrary (which we discuss later), indicating that it is grounded in social attitudes about ageing and gender rather than the life experiences of older adults themselves.
