Introduction to volume two: themes, issues and chapter synopses

This introductory chapter sets the scene for the volume in various ways. It outlines the political and scholarly context of ageing sexuality, whereby the subject itself is imbued with negativity and constraint, while elaborating the purpose of the volume: to bring a critical to the ways in which and why older people encounter their sexuality as something made problematic. The chapter also describes the contours and various forms of desexualisation as preparatory to a summary of the contents on each chapter and the order or chapters from the general to the particular and ending with chapters devoted to care policy and practice.