Same sex acts involving older men. An ethnographic study

For many men in modern Western societies it is not uncommon to have anonymous same-sex acts in cruising places with a varying frequency depending on many factors, e.g. their biographical history, marital status, religion, and age. This paper looks at generational differences in the Italian gay community and specifically contrasts both setting and patterns of social interaction of two cohorts of men (older men and younger adults) patronizing bathhouses. The meaning of adult development and aging of sexual minorities is little understood in Italy. For the first time in history, a generation of self-identified gay men is approaching retirement, and yet we do not understand what well-being and successful development in later life mean in this community. Moreover, the aging processes among gay men who are already in their retirement years, many of whom are still "closeted," remain invisible. The ethnographic report, based on two years of participant observation, reveals the culture of the gay bath and the social and sexual spaces of older and younger gay men and their self-definitions and relationship to the "gay community".