Alienation, ambivalence, agency: Middle-aged gay men and ageism in Manchester’s gay village

Abstract

Based on interviews with 27 men and 20 observation sessions, this article explores how middle-aged gay men’s accounts/experiences of Manchester’s ‘gay village’ indicate various uses of ‘ageing capital’ (at times problematic) that differentiate them from other gay men. Men’s spoken and bodily expressed accounts indicate three responses to gay ageism. First, the village represents an alienated space where middle-aged men felt subject to ageist scrutiny or else erased from ‘the scene’. Second, the village represents ambivalent space of intermixed pleasures and dangers where middle-aged gay men negotiate with age-related norms. Third, middle-aged gay men could challenge gay ageism and render parts of the village more convivial.