The Changing of the Guard: Lesbian and Gay Elders, Identity, and Social ChangeOne of the first books to link identity, age, and gender, The Changing of the Guard offers a significant meditation on the politics of older lesbians and gays. Combining interviews and sustained critical thought, Rosenfeld links the development of lesbian and gay elders' identity with the key moments in the 20th century reinvention of homosexuality. In doing so, she bridges the gap between history and interaction that has characterized - and constrained - previous studies of identity. Rosenfeld first summarizes the meaning of homosexuality that prevailed when her subjects came of age and the radical changes it underwent during their middle years. She uses these changes to trace the paths they took toward one of two homosexual identities: a discreditable one adopted before the advent of gay liberation, or an accredited one, adopted during and through those momentous years. She theorizes that there is the existence of two distinct identity cohorts, shaped by a willingness or resistance to accept the historical forces at work on lesbian and gay identity. Such decisions on identities, Rosenfeld argues, strongly shaped her subjects in later life, specifically their understanding of th |
Contents
and the Search for Meaning | 14 |
From Identity | 76 |
The Heterosexual | 98 |
Homosexual Competence and Relations | 124 |
Contingencies and Challenges | 153 |
Common terms and phrases
Abby accrediting discourse actors Annual income asked associations aware constructed context course Daughters of Bilitis described disclosure discourse of homosexuality discreditable identity cohort early emerged enactment encountered engaged explained feelings felt friends gay bar gay liberation Gay Liberation Front gay liberationist gender inversion girls harassment Havelock Ellis historical homo homosexual competence homosexual identity iden Identified as gay identified as homosexual identity careers identity cohort membership identity politics implications incompetence informants interview Jeannine Kate knew lesbian lesbian and gay lives Los Angeles lover Manny Maria Marilyn married mosexual never one's homosexuality passing as heterosexual person political relationship respondents Retired Rhoda rience Rodney same-sex desires seen sexual identity Single white female social spoke stigmatizing discourse subculture talk teens discreditable things threat tion tity told understanding West Hollywood white male born woman women