Is the Fear Factor at 55 a Real Phenomenon for Gay Men?

Contents:

• GAY, MIDDLE-AGED, AND LONELY AS HELL
• GAY MEN AND AGG
• THE ADULT LIFE URSE AND HOMOSEXUAL INTY MIDLIFE GAY MEN
• 6 - SEX AND OLR GAY MEN
• GAY MEN MID-LIFE: NOW WHAT?
• A GAY MAN AT MIDLIFE PONRS BEG LONELY AND ‘INVISIBLE’
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR AGG

GAY, MIDDLE-AGED, AND LONELY AS HELL

You are the last generatn of gay ath and the first generatn of a new gay life, and that experience mak you more betiful than any bicep bulge or flat should anyone ll you a “tired old queen” or “past his prime” or, the immortal words of Jethro Tull, “too old to rock and roll, ” their ignorant words should only make you grateful you know otherwise. In the here and now, there is still much homophobia our society: beg looked at an timidatg or shamg way when holdg their same-sex partner’s hand the streets; hearg homophobic people makg plats when gay characters appear on televisn; beg asked appropriate sexual qutns at a party that would never be asked to a heterosexual person; havg to refully select a holiday statn that is gay-iendly. In particular, the transn om young adulthood to middle age rais qutns of how homosexual inty is refed as gay men alter their participatn gay sexual culture, experience change sexual sire and activy, and revise broar psychosocial inty as fluenced by psychologil and socializatn procs related to agg.

Both narrativ clud evince of the effects of ageism and loss, how the are exprsed, and, le wh the work of Simpson (2015), how they n be chapter rts on stori appearg across three books that the thor has wrten on gay men's life stori and which foc on age and ageg. The third book (Robson, 2017) looked at gay men's workg liv om the perspective of three generatns of gay men om the same ternatnal sample, as well as their views and experienc on retirement om paid work and on old age/later central argument this chapter is that while ageg gay men do acquire and n ll on ‘rourc of ageg’ (Heaphy, 2007) to bat gay ageism, the are limed by the nstrats imposed by their ageg bodi and how the are unrstood. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTCivil Shenlman/Queer Lens PhotographyMarch 19, 2013Every other Tuday, Steven Petrow, the thor of “Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lbian Manners, ” (Workman, 2011), addrs qutns about gay and straight etiquette for a boomer-age dience.

(This might also help expla why the suatn is more difficult for gay men than is for lbians: The study I noted prevly showed that lbians “tend to have works that were more rilient and showed ls fluctuatn rponse to chang wh agg, ” probably bee their support works were not nearly as vastated by H. ” In this later perd, we see a newfound homophobic ristance to the re that, the reactn’s vrl, speaks to the role this re uld really play for men mtg themselv to each other: The Patriarch’s words acknowledge the realy that no matter s tentn, the re enabled the space for sexual timaci between men. Vcent Keh of MASCULAR Stud and Oliver Zke of Photomolekuel are pleased to announce the lnch of A Portra Isolatn, a project explorg emotnal and physil space the end of March 2020, as the COVID-19 global panmic grew spe and impact, gay men around the world were asked to subm self portras that reflected their experience of the ronavis lock-down.

GAY MEN AND AGG

Livg liv which are often agmented between nventnal work ndns and their private liv leav many gay men whout the tradnal support mechanisms of heterosexuals and this shows through the separated by geography, culture and age, the men the imag all share fears for the future, lonels, job secury, and separatn. "What may be different for gay men above a certa age -- let's say 50, randomly -- is the bed effects of profsnal agg and romantic agg, by which I mean that I thk that we're more nsc of and hnted by lost youth and changed looks than straight men are, for many different reasons. "If you mean some new fear of beg gay bee of the state of the world or suggtg that as we age, we get more timid about beg out, I thk the trajectory this untry is still toward greater equaly for LGBTQ people, spe the actns of the print and his admistratn, " Bni said.

In a review of the effects of social ntext on black homosexual mal, Peterson and Jon (2009) note that studi reveal that, relative to men of other racial groups, black men experience higher levels of ternalized homophobia, are ls likely to disclose their homosexual orientatn, and are more likely to perceive that their iends and neighbors disapprove of homosexualy. For stance, while sexual behavr ton (age at first sexual ntact wh another male) are changg slowly, dividual psychologil ton (age at first awarens of same-sex attractn, self-intifitn as gay) are changg more rapidly, and social ton (age at first g out, equentg a gay bar) are changg even more rapidly. They found that there were no signifint differenc among heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual men and women wh rpect to general happs, perceived health, or job satisfactn sce age 18 or wh the last 12 transgenr people, the available studi generally suggt high rat of negative mental health out.

THE ADULT LIFE URSE AND HOMOSEXUAL INTY MIDLIFE GAY MEN

Beyond such direct maniftatns of stigma, Herek and Gars (2007) suggt there are pervasive effects of stutnalized stigma, or “heterosexism, ” among gay, lbian, and bisexual populatns, such as nial of the right to marriage most stat, negative enomic effects the workplace, and equent disenanchisement om relig and spirual rourc need to amelrate the effects of and Gars (2007) also intify two other sourc of strs experienced by sexual mori: “felt stigma” and “self-stigma.

The negative feelgs about one's own homosexual sir n have negative impacts on mental and physil health and heighten the strs experienced by sexual DisorrsSome populatn studi have pared rat of anxiety disorrs homosexually and heterosexually active men and women. Cochran and Mays (2000a) also examed possible associatns between homosexual/bisexual behavr patterns and lifetime prevalence of affective disorrs, cludg mania, major prsn, and dysthymia, among men (aged 17–39) g data om the Natnal Health and Nutrn Examatn Survey (NHANES) III. However, the thors note the limed number of participants who reported a homosexual or bisexual recently, Bostwick and lleagu (2010) ed data om the 2004–2005 Natnal Epimlogic Survey on Alhol and Related Condns (n = 34, 653) to exame lifetime and past-year mood and anxiety disorrs among different sexual orientatn groups.

6 - SEX AND OLR GAY MEN

Conron and lleagu (2008), g data om the Massachetts Behavral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey of adults aged 18–64 (n = 38, 910), found that bisexual adults were signifintly more likely to report feelg “sad or blue” than eher heterosexual or lbian and gay adults. The thors note that the prevalence of mental health disorrs found sexual-mory Latos and Asian Amerins was siar to or lower than that found populatn-based studi of lbian, gay, and bisexual adults of prsn among transgenr people are far ls well studied.

Feldman and Meyer (2007b) pared the prevalence of eatg disorrs a venue-based sample of 126 whe heterosexuals and 388 whe, black, and Lato LGB men and women and found that, pared wh the heterosexual men, the gay and bisexual men had a higher lifetime prevalence of such disorrs. PHYSICAL HEALTH STATUSWhile LGBT adults have all of the same health ncerns as the general populatn, there are some areas of physil health that are known to be distct for sexual and genr HealthVery ltle rearch has been nducted on the sexual health of LGBT people, and most of has foced on sexual dysfunctn among gay and bisexual men. In a study g a nvenience sample of self-intified gay men (n = 1, 196) and a matched sample of heterosexual men (n = 1, 558), none of whom were HIV-posive, Bancroft and lleagu (2005) found that the gay men reported erectile dysfunctn more equently than the heterosexual men.

While the thors pos that “erectile dysfunctn” may mean different thgs to gay and heterosexual men, they also suggt that the discrepancy may be associated wh anxiety or other who have sex wh men and take meditn for erectile dysfunctn (eher through a physician or through other sourc) may monstrate higher rat of sexual risk takg. Numero risk factors for HIV transmissn among gay and bisexual men have been intified, cludg lack of knowledge of HIV serostat (Marks et al., 2009), nonsupportive peer norms (Hart et al., 2004), optimistic beliefs about HIV treatment (Ostrow et al., 2002; Sullivan et al., 2007), greater numbers of male sexual partners, unprotected terurse wh HIV-posive partners, and amphetame or heavy alhol or dg e before sex (Kobl et al., 2006). Another study examg behavral bisexualy and ndom e based on data om the 2002 cycle of the Natnal Survey of Fay Growth found that bisexually active men, when reportg on their most recent same-sex enunter, ced the same ndom e as heterosexual or homosexual men.

GAY MEN MID-LIFE: NOW WHAT?

Spik and lleagu (2009) found that HIV-posive black men wh both male and female sexual partners engaged more sexual and dg risk behavrs than their heterosexual and gay a systematic review of 29 studi prentg data on HIV and transgenr populatns, Herbst and lleagu (2008) intified a number of risk factors for transgenr women. Conversely, rearch on protective factors is largely FactorsThe primary risk factors for LGBT adults examed the lerature are stigma, discrimatn, and victimizatn; vlence; substance e; and childhood, Discrimatn, and VictimizatnLbians, gay men, and bisexual people are often the targets of stigma and discrimatn bee of their sexual orientatn.

In a 2005 natnal survey wh a probabily sample of self-intified lbian, gay, and bisexual adults (n = 662), approximately 16 percent of lbians and 18 percent of gay men reported they had experienced discrimatn employment or hog bee of their sexual orientatn (Herek, 2009a). An analysis of data om the MIDUS survey, mentned earlier the chapter, found that self-intified homosexual and bisexual adults reported both lifetime and day-to-day experienc wh discrimatn more equently than heterosexuals, and 42 percent attributed the discrimatn partially or entirely to their sexual orientatn (Mays and Cochran, 2001) surprisgly, experienc wh discrimatn and victimizatn have negative effects on psychologil well-beg.

Siarly, based on an Inter survey (n = 210), gay and bisexual men's experienc of sexual stigma—cludg harassment, rejectn, and discrimatn—appear to be associated wh psychologil distrs (Szymanski, 2009) ltle rearch has examed the addive effects of var forms of social discrimatn—cludg antigay vlence, discrimatn, and harassment—one study found higher levels of psychologil distrs gay and bisexual Lato men.

A GAY MAN AT MIDLIFE PONRS BEG LONELY AND ‘INVISIBLE’

Rults of a study parg bisexual and lbian/gay adults (n = 613) showed that the bisexual adults reported higher levels of inty nfn (uncertaty about one's sexual orientatn) and lower levels of self-disclosure and muny nnectedns than the lbian and gay adults (Balsam and Mohr, 2007). Another, smaller study (n = 43) g qualative methods to explore mory strs among bisexual men and women, gay men, and lbians showed that the bisexual men and women felt that both heterosexual and homosexual dividuals n have biased opns of bisexual people.

Among a sample of 248 transgenr people of lor Washgton, DC, 43 percent reported havg been a victim of vlence or crime and 13 percent of sexual abe; 43 percent attributed this victimizatn to homophobia and 35 percent to transphobia (Xavier et al., 2005) extent to which transgenr dividuals are accepted wh the LGB muny has not been aquately studied. As a rult of hate crim based on sexual orientatn, lbian and gay survivors have been found to manift signifintly more symptoms of prsn, anger, anxiety, and posttrmatic strs pared wh lbian and gay victims of parable crim unrelated to their sexual orientatn (Herek et al., 1999; see also Huebner et al., 2004; Otis and Skner, 1996) om the Feral Bure of Invtigatn (2010), as well as some studi based on probabily sampl, suggt that hate crim based on sexual orientatn are prevalent the Uned Stat. More than one-third of gay men (38 percent) reported experiencg hate crim agast their person or property, pared wh 11–13 percent of lbians, bisexual men, and bisexual women (Herek, 2009b) hate crim, upl wh same-sex partners may also be at risk for timate partner vlence.

The thors found that the homosexually experienced women were more likely than the exclively heterosexually experienced women to currently and lleagu (2004) examed differenc health risk factors and physil functng between heterosexual and self-intified lbian/ bisexual registered nurs a prospective hort (n = 116, 671) reced om 14 U.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR AGG

Siarly, Conron and lleagu (2010) provi evince of differenc smokg and dg e between heterosexuals and gays/lbians om the Massachetts Behavral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys (n = 67, 359), an annual stratified hoehold sample of adults Massachetts. Sexual orientatn was fed as lbian or gay self-intified (n = 36), bisexual self-intified (n = 50), heterosexual self-intified wh same-sex partners the past 5 years (n = 71), and exclively heterosexual self-intified reportg no same-sex partners (n = 3, 723). Usg the same data set, Trocki and lleagu (2009) examed tobac and marijuana e among lbians (n = 36), gay men (n = 57), heterosexual men (n = 3, 201) and women (n = 3, 723) wh only different-sex partners, bisexual men (n = 27) and women (n = 50), and heterosexual self-intified men (n = 83) and women (n = 71) wh same-sex partners.

Further, 8 percent of the men who have sex wh men engaged equent/heavy drkg (five or more drks at a stg at least once a week), 18 percent ed three or more recreatnal dgs, and 19 percent ed recreatnal dgs at least once a and lleagu (2008) examed the role of dg e and addictn sexual behavr by nductg foc groups wh 46 nongay self-intified black men of predomantly low socenomic stat. However, they also found that the effects of sexual-mory stat on substance e and pennce were greater for sexual-mory women than for sexual-mory men, although this fdg may be a rult of the overall higher rat of substance e and pennce among men the general populatn (McCabe et al., 2009) a meta-analysis of prr mental health rearch found that lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals had a 1. The thors found that, pared wh the heterosexual rponnts, the homosexual/ bisexual rponnts reported higher rat of major physil maltreatment by their ltle is known about experienc of childhood sexual abe among sexual mori, some evince, rived om a probabily sample of urban men who have sex wh men (n = 1, 078), suggts that such abe may be mon (20 percent) among sexual-mory men (Catania et al., 2008).

Feldman and Meyer (2007a) examed the relatnship between childhood sexual abe and eatg disorrs a muny sample of 193 self-intified whe, black, and Lato gay and bisexual men and found that 33 percent of the sample had experienced childhood physil abe, and 34 percent had experienced childhood sexual abe.