Firming the Floppy Penis

Abstract

Studies of manhood neglect the old just as social gerontology avoids theorizing masculinity, but theories of age relations have much to offer to the scholarship of men. Preliminary study of a mass-marketed program of “successful aging” suggests that old men with money to spend can consume images of themselves as young again. The authors analyze both the ageism of such a consumer regimen and its implications for old manhood in the contexts of men’s endangered physical health, unequal access to wealth, heterosexual dominance, and fears of impotency.