Sex after 60? You've got to be joking! Senior sexuality in comedy film

- The formerly taboo subject of older people's sexuality is depicted in film more often.
- Comedy films about later life sexuality can challenge stereotypes and fears of ageing.
- Open dialogue will help carers to better understand intimacy needs of older clients.

Representations of the sexuality of older people have been largely absent in mainstream films until recent times. Cinema as an art form has historically denied or ignored the fact that humans are sexual beings their whole lives. In this paper critical discourse analysis is used to examine four comedy films released between 1993 and 2012 that tackle the subject of 'senior sexuality'. All four films are explicit in representing older people as sexual beings but, unlike films about young people's sexual activity, the details of sexual encounters are left to viewers' imaginations. Two of the films challenge the notion of a heteronormative old age.