These are the words of an 84-year-old Swedish man, Owe, from a ‘body diary’ he was asked to write about experiences of embodiment in everyday life as an older man. The narrative of how he and his wife sleep in separate beds could be understood as a narrative of asexual old age, how the significance of sexuality diminishes in later life. But when Owe describes his everyday life with his wife, both in the diary and in a later interview, sexuality and desire are there as significant themes – although not in the shape of intercourse. Instead, it is touch, as in the opening quote, that is emphasised. Lying naked together in bed, caressing each other or just giving a ‘pat on the bum’ are examples of touch that Owe mentions and that are experienced as important aspects of sexuality in his current phase of life. Owe's experiences are not unique; among the diaries collected and the interviews conducted as part of my research on masculinity, sexuality, embodiment and ageing, many different narratives of touch appeared.

This chapter closely examines three Swedish men's narratives as they emerged in diary writings and interviews undertaken for this research. Starting with the 72-year-old Fritz, I discuss how the ageing male body as a ‘sexual body of touch’ destabilises and sometimes emerges as an alternative to a sexual phallic male body. Thereafter I explore the narrative of 78-year-old Lennart on how illness, ageing, touch and dependence are interwoven. Finally, I turn to Edvard's narrative on how touch, laughter and carefree spontaneity are connected in later life sexuality, and proposed as an alternative to a serious and teleological reproductive sexuality of youth and mid-life. These narratives and body diaries, as this chapter demonstrates, are particularly useful methodological resources with which to explore ageing embodiment in everyday life.