Review of the Literature on Older Lesbians

Abstract

This article reviews the academic literature from 1997 to 2010 on older lesbians (n = 28) and provides implications for education, practice, and research. While there is an ongoing lack of research focused solely on older lesbians, we found a growing interest in this population. Importantly, there was an increase in empirical studies and, in particular, those using qualitative methods: 9 articles reported results of interviews with a total of 159 older lesbians. Overall, the research reviewed here indicates that older lesbians evidence a great deal of adaptive capacity to deal with the challenges they face, including societal marginalization and discrimination. There remains a great need for research focused solely on older lesbians, especially studies that are more inclusive in terms of diversity in age, race, and ethnicity.

The Intergenerational Relationships of Gay Men and Lesbian Women

“…Despite limitations, this study provides one of the first empirical accounts of how midlife to later life gay men and lesbian women in intimate ties experience relationships with their own-and their partner's-parents. Findings provide clear evidence of the ways support, strain, and ambivalence are interpreted by gay men and lesbian women, facilitating a new lens to view adult intergenerational relationships within both solidarity-conflict and ambivalence paradigms (Averett & Jenkins, 2012;Grossman et al, 2000;Solomon et al, 2004). Dimensions of strain, support, and ambivalence may have important consequences for the well-being of both gay and lesbian adult children and their aging parents (Birditt et al, 2010;Fingerman, Cheng, Birditt, & Zarit, 2012;Ward, 2008), and this study lays critical groundwork for future research to address these possibilities.…”

“…Despite the demonstrated significance of intergenerational ties, few studies investigate relationships between midlife to later life gay men and lesbian women and their later life parents-a relationship that may be typified by distinct dynamics due to gay men and lesbian women's stigmatized sexual minority status (Averett & Jenkins, 2012;Connidis, 2012). Moreover, gays and lesbians in romantic partnerships also have relationships with their partner's parents (i.e., "in-laws").…”

Same-sex partner bereavement in older women: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

“…Ethnicity and faith may impact upon experiences of bereavement (Becker et al, 2007), and so future research could consider the experiences of those with other religious beliefs, and those from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. Furthermore, the women included here were all under 75, and so the experiences of older-old women who have lost a same-sex partner remain unexplored (Averett & Jenkins, 2012).…”

“…While it is agreed that there is political value in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals uniting for the purposes of furthering the LGBT movement, it is also noted that due to the prevailing influence of patriarchy and the oppression of women there is a need to consider women's issues separate from men's, particularly in research (Averett & Jenkins, 2012) which may also counter some of the invisibility faced by older same-sex oriented women (Traies, 2009).…”

Social Justice Training Within Geropsychology

“…As early as 1978, the term double jeopardy was used to point out the further threats which older adults with additional minority statuses experience (Dowd & Bengston, 1978). Today, research that focuses on older adults who face a "triple threat of marginalization" (e.g., older lesbian women) is growing (Averett & Jenkins, 2012). It is clear that the social justice issues related to older adults are numerous as there are notable economic, educational, and financial disparities among various subgroups of seniors (Hinrichsen, 2006).…”