Gendering Age: Representations of Masculinities and Ageing (MASCAGE GNP 9)

The primary objective of this research is to analyse social constructions of ageing masculinities andhrough their cultural representations in contemporary European literatures and cinemas. The study specifically seeks: (a) to understand more fully the interrelationship of masculinities with a variety of social issues specifically associated with mens ageing: older mens health; social inclusion and exclusion; sexualities and affective relationships; and ageist stereotypes; (b) to explore mens experiences of, and attitudes to, ageing across different European cultures, exploring their commonalities and differences, at both national and transnational levels; (c) to gain a deeper understanding of ageing masculinities in and through cultural representations; and (d) to share the results of this project with other researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to help them devise strategies and policies designed to promote greater gender and age equity. If age studies focus on youth and gerontology studies of either older women or ungendered portraits of ageing (Saxton and Cole 2012), this project will explore the gendered specificities of mens ageing. Applying to the cultural analysis an interdisciplinary corpus of masculinity and age studies, the project seeks to make an impact by crossing the traditional Social Sciences-Humanities boundary and by proving that not only do social notions of masculinity shape their cultural representations, but they simultaneously affect the social (de-)construction of both gender and age.

The overall scholarly goal of the research project was to analyse social constructions of ageing masculinities and their cultural representations in contemporary European literatures and cinemas. Its aims were specifically: (a) to understand more fully the interrelationship of masculinities with a variety of social issues specifically associated with men's ageing: older men's health; social inclusion and exclusion; sexualities and affective relationships; and ageist stereotypes; (b) to explore men's experiences of, and attitudes to, ageing across different European cultures, exploring their commonalities and differences, at both national and transnational levels; (c) to gain a deeper understanding of ageing masculinities in and through cultural representations; and (d) to share the results of this project with other researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to help them devise strategies and policies designed to promote greater gender and age equity. The project was based conceptually in Age Studies and Masculinity Studies, bringing together a focus on cultural and social conceptions of age and gender. Whereas earlier research in cultural gerontology has focused predominantly on either older women or 'ungendered' portraits of ageing, this project instead explored the gendered specificities of men's ageing. Constructing a transnational corpus of texts, on which the cultural analyses were based, the project has shown how the traditional boundaries between the social sciences and the humanities may be crossed in illuminating ways. This proves that not only do social notions of masculinity shape their cultural representations, but they simultaneously affect the social (de-)construction of both gender and age. Specific outcomes of this project concerned (1) analyses of the interrelations between ageing masculinities and representations of dementia from a wide range of cultural contexts in order to explore this syndrome as an intensely gendered disease (eds. Hartung, Kunow, Sweney 2022); (2) case studies exploring the multiple ways in which men age between different cultures, thus examining how concepts of age and gender are affected by cultural exchange (Hartung, Maierhofer, Schmitt-Kilb 2023); (3) the social sciences component specifically investigating the perspectives of older men (aged 65 and older) themselves on how they are represented in different forms of media. As a main outcome of this empirical research, we put forward the hypothesis that older Austrian men's understanding of ageing, and ageing masculinities in particular, first and foremost revolves around the idea of power (Ratzenböck, Pirker, Haring, Maierhofer 2022). Outcomes also include (4) the problematizing of the political dimension of popular culture and its role in representing gender and ageing (eds. Haring, Maierhofer, Ratzenböck 2023).