I almost can’t believe that my Medicare card came in the mail while I was in Mexico…proof that my sixty-fifth birthday is just around the corner. I’m all set to go on Medicare, I’ve been retired for over 4 years now, and I spend an inordinate amount of time in lesbian pajamas (sweats and a t-shirt or shorts and a tank top). I’ve officially reached the sunset stage of life. I can no longer claim to be a middle-aged woman. Unfortunately, at the same time that this realization hit, during the daily scroll of my news feed, I came across an article titled, “Lesbian and bisexual women live shorter lives than straight women. Here’s why.” WTAF! Of course, I couldn’t help myself I had to zoom right in and read this disturbing piece.
Well…let’s get right into it. First, it isn’t research from some hokey magazine. The research was published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), a highly respected journal and the researchers were from Harvard. Now, the only comfort I got from reading the article was that the research was done with a subset of the population (nurses born between 1945 and 1964). Sure, I worked in healthcare, but not as a nurse. The other astounding fact was that of the over 90,000 participants, less than one percent identified as lesbian and less than a half percent as bisexual. That made me a little suspicious, I have to admit, because, especially now, there seems to be a consensus that there is a much larger number of women who identify as other than straight. But, let’s get back to the study. Bisexual women had the shortest life expectancy, dying 37% sooner, and lesbians died 26% sooner than straight women. Here are the reasons cited in the study for the lower life expectancy:
- “Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) women have systematically worse physical, mental, and behavioral health than heterosexual women. These disparities are due to chronic and cumulative exposure to stressors (including interpersonal and structural stigma) that propagates and magnifies ill health throughout the life course, manifesting in disparities across the breadth of adverse health outcomes that tend to become more pronounced as individuals age.” The study further noted that because bisexual women were “more concealable” the stressors to disclose and thus remain closeted were much higher.
- “Biases in care based on sexual orientation occur at every point in the care curriculum.” Healthcare professionals clearly need to step up their game!
- The needed screening and treatment referral for tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use is just not happening because of bias, and this group may have even more issues because of societal stressors. No wonder I probably drink too much alcohol…just kidding (I only do that in Mexico, because, come on…it’s Mexico at an all-inclusive.
Normally, I don’t write about women in the sunset of their life. The only book I can think of that has two healthy older characters is Georgetown Glen (which won an award…just saying…). It occurred to me that while I can find books with characters who are on the upper edge of middle age, I rarely read about characters in their sixties and seventies. Elena Graf is the only author who consistently writes books about characters in that age group. Perhaps, we, as writers, need to change that. We need to write about healthy, mature women to change the narrative. Because I don’t want to go without a fight and let the fact that I’m a lesbian make me more susceptible to health issues! It is, after all, Pride Month. Let’s be proud out there! I have a new book in The Next Generation series, titled Love Hacks that I hope you will check out…that will certainly help with my personal stressors! Help me live a long and healthy life! Also, for those with KU, The Dream Catcher is now on Kindle Unlimited, adding to the growing number of my books on KU.
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Annette Mori 
I don’t necessarily agree with the AMA. I don’t think did very well with the cross-section of people they questioned. Anyway, being in my 7th decade I have to agree there are not enough books for us and I like your suggestion. The first book I read by you was Out of This World. Loved it. The cat was a nice touch. I currently have Georgetown Glen and The Dream Catcher on my TBR. Thank you for writing such great books.
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Thanks! Really appreciate the support!
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