ABSTRACT
In this chapter we discuss the importance of a critical ethics of care framework, alongside recognition of sexual rights, for providing more inclusive care to older people of sexually diverse backgrounds. Social care provision for older lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people remains a predominantly heteronormative preserve. Long-term care settings can be sexualised spaces, but the recognition of older LGB people’s intersecting identities, biographies and sexual rights is a domain that can be undervalued, denied or avoided. This chapter draws on research findings in Wales (a devolved nation within the UK) on affirmative, dignified social care with older LGB people in long-term care settings. Our qualitative findings indicate several barriers within care settings that hinder the recognition of older LGB people’s sexual lives and life histories, including the detachment of sexuality from the practice of caring. However, the application of a critical ethics of care framework to social care with older LGB people can enhance further understanding of their sexual lives and life histories as integral to their social care needs and wellbeing. In turn, this can promote social care provision that both attends and responds to sexual personhood as a fundamental dimension in delivering inclusive care.
