Participants and presenters don t share similar perspectives on current HIV trends, syphilis outbreaks in Internet chatrooms, or circuit party drug use, nor do they embrace one viewpoint regarding gay men s sexual cultures or sex practices. What they have in common is a commitment to moving beyond a piecemeal, crisis-driven approach to gay men s health and creating a bold and sustained approach to improving community wellness. Since aging is a state of the body, mind, and soul, the changes we face as we grow older are behavioral, mental, and emotional. Aging well is work, a process that takes doing and that takes time. While recognizing a gay man is vulnerable to early social forces as well as the influence of family and peers, I make a central assumption that a gay man is the central agent in developing his identity, and he continues his self-creation over the course of his lifetime.
Life is never clean and tidy, and midlife can be an espescially messy time.
I begin by focusing on the body because our sexuality is at the core of our identity, as well as the source of much gay male anxiety around aging. The journey begins in the root of the body and ends with the full flowering of our soul. Share your thoughts about gay men and aging on our Primetimers Discussion Board . Exercises are woven throughout each chapter, and will focus and direct you through the shifts in perception and attitude that will bring about your successful aging. Ideally, you will want to keep a journal to write down your thoughts and whatever feelings come up during this process.