’70 is not the limit’: discourses on sexuality and ageing among migrant and non-migrant women in Finland, Russia and Israel

Academic literature identifies two hegemonic discourses regarding aging women sexuality: the decline discourse, a traditional discourse which portrays the aging body as fragile and lacking sexual vitality; and the anti-decline discourse, a neoliberal discourse that encourages resisting the aging process to maintain sexual function. Feminist scholars have identified an alternative affirmative sexuality discourse, which challenges these perspectives by acknowledging bodily diversity and focusing on sexual self-awareness and exploration. This research examines how women engage with these discourses, drawing on 62 interviews with women born in the former Soviet Union and Israel, aged 50 to 76, currently living in Russia, Finland, and Israel. A Foucauldian discourse analysis identified five discourses. While the hegemonic decline and anti-decline discourses remain dominant, we identified three alternative discourses that function as nuanced variations of the affirmative sexuality framework: acceptance, which allows women to embrace natural changes; progress, which frames sexuality as improving over time through the accumulation of knowledge, skills, and agency; and critical, which employs a feminist lens to challenge structural inequalities. These findings highlight how different discourses shape the possibilities for constructing sexual desire and agency in later life. Findings highlight specific cultural manifestations of universal discourses about aging sexuality.