Sexual pleasure in older age: haptic visuality and female eroticism in three contemporary Spanish films

Abstract

This article explores the representation of female sexuality in later life through the lens of three contemporary Spanish films: La vida era eso (2020), Destello bravío (2021), and Mamacruz (2023). Drawing from feminist aging studies, film theory, and concepts such as haptic visuality and clitoral sexuality, the study challenges the patriarchal,ageist, and phallocentric narratives that have long shaped cultural understandings of older women's erotic lives. Through close readings of these films, the article demonstrates how they subvert the dominant heteronormative gaze by foregrounding sensory pleasure, autoeroticism, and the reawakening of desire in older women.By rejecting decline-based models of aging and embracing affirmative aging, these cinematic works offer empowering portrayals of aging female bodies as sites of autonomy, transformation, and erotic potential. The analysis highlights how these films resist traditional representations of female aging and sexuality, creating new feminist haptic visual languages that center pleasure, agency, and the richness of life in older age.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101347
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > English Languages and Applied Linguistics
Additional Information: Copyright © 2025, Elsevier Inc. This accepted manuscript version is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/].
Uncontrolled Keywords: Aging,Female sexuality,Haptic pleasure,Old age,Spanish film,Visual pleasure,Health(social science),General Arts and Humanities,General Social Sciences,Life-span and Life-course Studies
Publication ISSN: 0890-4065
Last Modified: 01 Oct 2025 17:39
Date Deposited: 22 Jul 2025 16:10
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://www.sci ... 890406525000416 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2025-09
Published Online Date: 2025-09-07
Accepted Date: 2025-06-27
Authors: Medina, Raquel (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-7824-3115)

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Version: Accepted Version

Access Restriction: Restricted to Repository staff only until 1 March 2027.

License: Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives


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