Feminist economics and queer aging: exploring caring labor through LGBTQI narratives in older ages
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Abstract
This article explores queer aging through the lens of the feminist economics concept of caring labor and links it with biopolitical considerations regarding older LGBTQI people and their need for long-term residential care. The analysis is anchored in theory and draws upon data from qualitative interviews conducted with older LGBTQI persons in Austria. In terms of care demands, this article examines the historical legal contexts for older queer people and their accumulation of financial and social capital over the life course; in terms of supply, this paper considers the queer gender performances of care workers within the global organization of care provision as part of neoliberal governmentality. The analysis is framed by community structures and socioeconomic policy frameworks, which are key for understanding the interactions between care providers and recipients in long-term residential care. Such structures and frameworks include specific interpersonal affections and commitments, such as dynamics of romanticization, exploitation, and solidarity regarding strategies for addressing (in)visibility and connection. This article demonstrates the transformative potential of combining feminist economics analyses and queer aging theories for critiquing how current biopolitical regimes frame adult age care; it also advocates for alternatives in queer aging discourses.
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