Feminist economics and queer aging: exploring caring labor through LGBTQI narratives in older ages

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.