ABSTRACT
The absence of older lesbians from LGBT ageing research (Heaphy, Yip and Thompson, 2003; Barker, 2004; Archibald, 2010; Traies, 2014) reflects a wider cultural invisibility (Kehoe, 1988; Neild and Pearson, 1992; Traies, 2009). This chapter uses data from a large-scale survey of the lives and experiences of lesbian-identified UK women over 60 to address that marginalisation and to challenge some prevailing cultural assumptions about older women, sex and relationships. Using a cultural studies perspective, the chapter begins by describing the wide diversity of lesbian partnerships beyond 60, including sexual relationships and older lesbian attitudes to sex. I then discuss the social context of older lesbian lives, including ‘chosen families’ and social networks. I conclude by considering what might result from making older lesbians more visible, and call for wider recognition of the importance of non-traditional affective bonds in older LGBT people’s lives.
