Understanding Gay and Lesbian Aging

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 11 Issue 2 June Article 7 June 1984 Understanding Gay and Lesbian Aging Philip M. Kayal Seton Hall University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw Part of the Gender and Sexuality Commons, Gerontology Commons, and the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Kayal, Philip M. (1984) "Understanding Gay and Lesbian Aging," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 11 : Iss. 2 , Article 7. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol11/iss2/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Social Work at ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact . UNDERSTANDING GAY AND LESBIAN AGING Philip M. Kayal, Ph.D. Seton Hall University Studying the aging process of "gay men" and "lesbians" is problematic because it assumes that sexual orientation as such is a valid ontological concept and research category. As a master status, by itself is not a particularly sexual orientation useful explanatory variable. Objectivity is further limited by the sexism and homophobia of both the "in-house" sociological profession and its researchers and theoreticians. Perceptions of gay/lesbian aging are particularly colored by the Arguments are heterosexist emphasis on family life. made that institutionalization of the elderly is the political manifestation of personal and really social values which are insensitive to the needs of minorities in general and "same-sexers" in particular. SOCIOLOGICAL OBJECTIVITY Sociological and gerontological research is frequently done from what is now recognized as a "social order" perspective (Horton, 1966; Szymanski, Gouldner (1963), moreover, argues quite 1970). convincingly that social scientists HAVE to act out of some value matrix in order to understand and state their cases. There is a danger, however, that sociologists will emphasize an "order model" to the exclusion of all others. This would color both the perception and understanding of nearly all life cycle events, especially the aging experiences of minorities. Even if minority views are given in the gerontological literature, Adelman (1980:13) tells us that they are typically contrasted against "mainstream" models of American society and behavior. This simply reinforces the normative ideas of the "in-house researcher" whose beliefs and perceptions then become the unquestioned research concepts of the discipline. Take, for example, the way social order theorists generally misuse sexuality, sexual orientation, and sexual style as explanatory variables. Plummer (1981) claims that this is quite evident in any social science treatment of "homosexuals" and homosexuality. It appears that when the life-style or life-cycle experiences of "same-sexers" (Vidal, 1981) are studied by outsiders, the complimentarity between the questions asked and the social characteristics and beliefs of the researcher g'o unrecognized. Because of their assumptions about reality, these researchers can only study and reify misconstrued social concepts and biases. What most often passes as objectivity, then, may really be the- biases of a certain class of "established" social science practitioners (Kayal, 1976). As a result, sociological and gerontblogical literature is often conceptually and empirically redundant (Cf: Gagnon and Simon, 1973). It is most likely written from a sexist, heterosexist, and homoph-obic point of view (Kayal and San Giovanni, 1984). This paper attempts to show more clearly how heterosexism or the domination of everyday life by the roles, attitudes, values, and "knowledge" of "opposite-sex players" colors and distorts our understanding of the aging process among gays and lesbians. Studying "Homosexuals": It is the argument of this paper that both theory and practice in the sociology of aging are heterosexist, sexist, stereotypical, and frequently inconsistent because they favor order and assimilationist assumptions about social and sexual behavior. In other words, aging, like all social reality, is generally perceived and studied from the position and perspectives of white, heterosexual, male, urban, educated, and ivory tower academicians playing traditional and legitimate marital and social roles (Friedrichs, 1970). Even when we have of the process aging on the information disenfranchised (Gelfand and Kutzik, 1979), i.e., ethnics, blacks, gays, etc., the language of analysis and variables utilized, the objectives of the research, and the data derived are generally colored by the academic/professional language employed, the questions investigated, and the values and/or biases of the researchers themselves (Mills, 1940; Becker, 1967). That the gerontological profession is so can be evidenced by a review of its prejudiced understanding and analysis of gay men and lesbians. be demonstrated that using sexual also will It orientation by itself as an explanatory variable is so fraught with difficulties as to render it meaningless. It will even be argued that studying and sociological as a distinct same-sexers psychological category is in itself both prejudiced and problematic for it assumes that the choice of "love/sex object" indicates something unique about the social, mental, religious, political, and moral fiber of same-sex players. Plummer (1981) has argued is unlikely that we can know anything about that it anyone in terms of whom they have sex with and/or show affection for. It is inappropriate to see people primarily in terms of their sexual activity. It is quite possible may and/or identity itself sexual activity that actually be nothing more than mere "role taking" 1967). This is crucial to my argument (McIntosh, since same-sex players are considered to be "homosexuals" and are assumed, therefore, to be "real and ontologically" different people. But this notion arrangements is only the natural outcome of sexist thought to is of affection wherein the object determine the personality, identity, and behavior of the actors involved (Kayal, 1976). It is more to the only when the sexual it is point to note that behaviors and roles taken by same-sexers become socio-political problems that sexual activity and After sexual as such become salient. identity orientation becomes an issue, it becomes internalized as part of private identity. Therefore, gerontologist Marcy Adelman (1981:83) suggests: * . * future research on homosexuality should be prepared to discard antiquated notions of normal development and should investigate homosexuality and sexual orientation from a non-moralistic standpoint in which sexual identity is viewed as a secondary and not an essential process in human development. Because the normative and prevailing world-view assumes the naturalness of heterosexuality, however, same-sex activity is seen as "exceptional." The category "homosexual" is thus created and includes anyone who engages in or comes to identify with "1same-sexing." Negative attribu (...truncated)