“Sexual Life in My 54 Years Has Become Brighter, More Interesting and More Diverse”: Transformative Moments of Subjectivity in the Life Course

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This article explores the transformative moments of sexual subjectivity among post-reproductive women who use dating platforms to seek partners. It focuses on how pivotal life events influence the evolution of sexual subjectivity, expressions of desire, and experiences of pleasure. Transformative moments are understood as embodied events that significantly alter one’s sexual life. Sexual subjectivity is defined as the narrative construction of oneself as a sexual subject — through the meanings assigned to sex and sexuality, as well as through thoughts, feelings, and self-narratives. The empirical basis of the study comprises 45 interviews with Russian-speaking women aged 51 and older, residing in Finland, Israel, and Russia. All participants were born in the 1960s in the USSR and belong to a generation whose sexual culture has undergone significant changes both in Russia and in the countries to which they migrated. Three selected cases allow for an in-depth analysis of transformative moments in diverse sociocultural and sexual contexts.The study identifies three affirmative models of sexual subjectivity: the emancipation of sexual desire, the recognition of one’s sexual attractiveness, and the reconfiguration of embodiment and exploration of sexuality. The analysis focuses on changes in sexual life, representations of the (sexual) body, and the events that triggered transformations in sexual subjectivity — such as divorce, migration, menopause, shifts in sexual culture, and personal experiences. Findings indicate that women's experiences are diverse: age-related changes and menopause are interpreted not only as losses but also as sources of renewed embodied experiences, mediated through accumulated skills, self-knowledge, and bodily awareness. Sexuality in later life emerges as affirmative, and embodiment may be interpreted in a positive and empowering way.

About the authors

Larisa Leonidovna Shpakovskaya

University of Helsinki

Email: slarisalarisa@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4206-4702
SPIN-code: 2160-4965
ResearcherId: D-3403-2016
Candidate of Sociology, Researcher Helsinki, Finland

Anna Andrianovna Temkina

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Email: atemkina@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7988-8310
PhD, Associate Professor Beersheba, Israel

Anna Rotkirch

Population Research Institute Väestöliitto

Email: anna.rotkirch@vaestoliitto.fi
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9429-1499
PhD, Professor, Research Director Helsinki, Finland

Maya Lavie-Ajayi

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Email: laviema@bgu.ac.il
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1746-4464
PhD, Researcher, Department of Public Health Beersheba, Israel

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