This project investigates how women in later life reimagine ways of living and loving through practices of sensuality and pleasure. It explores the potential of pleasure to subvert social norms and to generate alternative forms of intimacy, care, and community. The research focuses on sensual work practices, erotic friendships, and pleasure-oriented communities led by older women, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Belgium, including nursing homes, festivals, workshops, and communal projects.
The study examines how pleasure-oriented practices might enable older women to challenge cultural narratives that stigmatize ageing, femininity, and sexuality, while also considering ways in which dominant norms are reproduced. By attending to the aesthetic, ethical, and relational dimensions of these practices, the project frames later life as a site of sensual creativity and experimentation, offering new perspectives on intimacy, care, and sociality.