Many of us have seen how ageism works in everyday life: a joke about “old people and sex”, a raised eyebrow if an older couple holds hands, or the quiet assumption that intimacy simply fades away with age. This piece pulls together research showing that these small, common attitudes can add up to something bigger: older adults may feel embarrassed to ask questions, professionals may avoid the topic, and care settings may be organised in ways that unintentionally make privacy and closeness harder.

The key message is simple. Sexual health isn’t a “young person’s issue”, and older adults shouldn’t have to fight stereotypes to be taken seriously. When ageist assumptions go unchallenged, people can miss out on support, information, and the basic dignity of being seen as a full human being at every age.

Read more here.

The first meeting of the intergovernmental working group (IGWG), established to draft a UN Convention on the rights of older persons (per resolution A/HRC/RES/58/13), will take place at the UN in Geneva between 18 and 20 February 2026. This will be an organisational meeting where Member States will agree how to move forward and will be followed by two substantive sessions of the IGWG, from 13-17 July and 26-30 October 2026.

Age International, on 5 Feb 26, called on the UK Government to ensure older people are meaningfully involved in drafting the new United Nations Convention on the Rights of Older Persons. The call came in a joint letter sent this week to Chris Elmore MP – the UK Foreign Minister responsible for human rights – by thirty-eight civil society leaders, including Age International and the BSG Ageism SIG, alongside supporters from the UK public.

Age International have also issued a briefing which sets out why a Convention is necessary, what to expect from the drafting process, why the involvement of older people is crucial, and the role the UK Government can play in ensuring their meaningful participation.

European developments

In our previous newsletter we announced that the European Commission had reversed its decision to withdraw the draft horizontal equal treatment directive (originally proposed in 2008, to outlaw discrimination on four grounds, including age beyond employment) from its work programme.

This draft directive has recently received a further boost. In late 2025, the European Parliamentary Research Service of the European Parliament published a study providing an impact assessment of the proposed directive which makes the case for EU action, provides evidence of impacts on a variety of stakeholders and an analysis of the costs (estimated at EUR 0.73 per capita for the first 5 years) and benefits. This study included, and was bolstered by, case studies conducted in five EU countries namely, Czechia, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Sweden.

Striking report on age discrimination in Belgium

In December, UNIA Belgium released its report Research on age discrimination in Belgium, in English which may be of interest due it its broad approach and key findings. This report covers age discrimination in nine areas of life, including work and digitalisation. It found that in every age group, at least one in three people had experienced age discrimination in the last 12 months and, more than 20 per cent had done so in work.

The report has a strong focus on intersectional discrimination revealing among other examples, that more than half of young people with disabilities experience age discrimination. It also highlights the cross-cutting nature of digitalisation and finds that the older people get, the more digital exclusion they experience.

As part of our Age Without Limits campaign at Centre for Ageing Better we have been working with the advertising industry to improve the way ageing and older people are represented in the media we see around us.

We recently launched a succinct set of guidelines, drawing on our own research as well as that of the Advertising Standards Authority, whose 2025 report revealed the UK public feels that older people are more likely than other groups to be stereotyped in advertising. Our resource prompts advertisers and agencies to consider how often they feature older people, and when they do, whether their portrayals are playing into harmful stereotypes. It provides constructive guidance on how to overcome stereotypical thinking, like including older voices in research, celebrating ageing, and looking at the age-diversity within their own teams.

We would love to reach as many industry professionals as possible with our guidelines, so please do share them widely and email us at if you would be interested in further discussing ageism in the creative industries.

Since 2013 we have been working to create experiences, artworks and coalitions, which help disrupt the deep narratives about ageing which ‘other’ ages which are not our own (be that young or old or anything in between).

Our interest in humour and ageism was prompted by our collaboration in the Better Birthdays Campaign which asked how birthday celebrations can reveal our attitudes towards ageing.

Ageist jokes on birthday cards invite us to laugh at ageing but what are we doing when we laugh at these jokes? There is plenty of research which describes the positive impact of laughing which we use for neurological regulation, and for bonding with others. But we also know that holding negative attitudes towards ageing is damaging to both our life expectancy and our happiness and wellbeing as we age, and as we publicly laugh, in the presence of younger people we reinforce the negative stereotypes that perpetuate these deep ageist narratives.

So, we took this question to the people in an online session organised by Flourishing Lives Coalition on 27th of January. It was called ‘How to Catch Ageism: Laughter’ and asked how we can use humour to unravel negative stereotypes and release everyone at all ages to live our own extraordinary long or short life.

You can view the recording of the workshop here. [Passcode: StUCp!z4]

A selection of video clips and images focusing upon ageing were shown. These included jokes which were “Punching down” (mocking people less powerful) and “Punching sideways” (mocking oneself or peers). There was a lively discussion as to whether they perpetuate ageism, did they reinforce ageist stereotypes OR did they help coping with ageing?

The workshop highlighted the benefits of laughing about ageing in ways which don’t reinforce the negative stereotypes. However, we feel the topic is worthy of deeper explorations. We weren’t able to unpick the cultural implications of colluding with and reinforcing negative ageing stereotypes through laughter. Indeed, nor sketch a framework for reframing or visioning positive ways to laugh at the ageing process.

We welcome your views and ideas.

Email: lifecourseageing@gmail.com

Web: https://www.canopy.si/

We have also submitted a proposal to the conference organisers to hold a symposium on ageism and social care. More details to follow in the next newsletter.