Department of Sociology, Trent University, Peterborough, Canada.
Sociol Health Illn. 2010 Feb 1;32(2):211-24. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2009.01211.x. Epub 2010 Feb 8.
Abstract While historically sex has been seen primarily as the prerogative of the young, more recently, the emphasis has been on the maintenance of active sexuality as a marker of successful ageing. A new cultural consensus appears to have emerged which not only emphasises the importance of continued sexual activity across the lifespan, but links sexual function with overall health and encourages increased self-surveillance of, and medical attention to, late-life sexuality. Drawing on historical accounts, clinical research, popular science reporting and health promotion literatures, I explore several key shifts in models of sexual ageing, culminating in the contemporary model of gender, sexuality and ageing that has made ageing populations a key market for biotechnologies aimed at enhancing sexual function. Two central concepts frame my analysis: 'virility surveillance', where age-related changes in sexual function are taken as indicative of decline, and the 'pharmaceutical imagination', where sexual lifecourses are reconstructed as drug effects revise standards of sexual function. After consideration of how narratives emerging from qualitative research with older adults challenge the narrow depiction of sexual functionality promoted by pharmaculture, conclusions call for continued critical inquiry into the biomedical construction of sex and age.
摘要 虽然历史上性主要被视为年轻人的特权，但最近，人们越来越强调保持活跃的性行为，将其作为成功老龄化的标志。一种新的文化共识似乎已经出现，不仅强调了在整个生命周期中保持性活动的重要性，还将性功能与整体健康联系起来，并鼓励对晚年性行为进行更多的自我监测和医疗关注。本文通过历史记载、临床研究、科普报道和健康促进文献，探讨了性衰老模式的几个关键转变，最终形成了当代性别、性和衰老模式，使老年人口成为旨在增强性功能的生物技术的重要市场。两个核心概念构成了我的分析框架：“男性气概监测”，即性功能的年龄相关变化被视为衰退的指标，以及“药物想象”，即性生命历程被重建为药物效应修正性功能标准。在考虑了来自老年人的定性研究中出现的叙述如何挑战药理学所推广的狭隘的性功能描述之后，结论呼吁继续对性和年龄的生物医学构建进行批判性探究。
