Reconceptualizing cultural narratives of mature women's sexuality in the Viagra era

To date, women's accounts of sexuality and sexual changes in mid-later life have been neglected by both feminists and gerontologists. In addition, women's responses to male partners' use of sexuopharmaceuticals such as Viagra (as a “solution" for erectile changes affecting older men) have received little attention. This paper reports on a New Zealand-based research which involved in-depth interview with 27 women, in mid-later life, who were partners of men that used Viagra. We analyse the accounts of 15 women who discussed changes/‘improvements' in their sexuality over the life course and with their partners' use of Viagra. Central to the accounts we present is an articulation of an active and desirous female sexuality in mid-later life. These narratives, we suggest, not only challenge the culture stereotype of mid-later life sexual decline for women, but also open up new spaces for feminist theorizing of heterosexuality and changing experiences of heterosexuality across the course.