Gail Hawkes – The Conversation

Baby boomer women are dressing differently and rejecting a look they associated with their mothers. Pedro Ribeiro Simões/Flickr

February 10, 2015

Ageing gracefully: how women steer the line between inauthentic and old

Rachel Thorpe, La Trobe University; Bianca Fileborn, La Trobe University; Gail Hawkes, La Trobe University; Marian Pitts, La Trobe University, and Victor Minichiello, University of New England

It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still look fabulous. This message is sold to us by magazines, newspapers, the cosmetics industry, fashion labels and dating agencies. Think of the recent movie…

Baby Boomer women are challenging ideas around what it means to grow old. Cesar Vargas/Flickr

January 22, 2015

Sex, desire and pleasure in later life: Australian women’s experiences

Bianca Fileborn, La Trobe University; Gail Hawkes, La Trobe University; Marian Pitts, La Trobe University; Rachel Thorpe, La Trobe University, and Victor Minichiello, University of New England

Older people, and particularly older women, are often thought of as being asexual or sexually undesirable. Although the particular age this is believed to happen varies somewhat in the popular imagination…

One in five people over 80 are sexually active but not all protect themselves against STIs. Flickr/adwriter

October 3, 2011

A ripe old age: the joy of sex later in life (just don’t forget the condoms)

Victor Minichiello, University of New England and Gail Hawkes, University of New England

Why is it that when we combine the words “sex” and “older people” there’s a reaction of surprise, unease and awkwardness? Is it because we believe older people don’t have sex? Or don’t have sexual fantasies…

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