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Understanding Sexuality in the Later Years
A significant gap exists between the reality and meaning of sexuality – sensuality for the elderly and the persistent, widespread mythology and destructive stereotypes associated with this age group. Evidence indicates the importance and centrality of sexuality through out the development of the hum...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Indian Journal of Gerontology
2009
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| Online Access: | http://10.26.1.76/ks/006508.pdf |
| Summary: | A significant gap exists between the reality and meaning of
sexuality – sensuality for the elderly and the persistent, widespread
mythology and destructive stereotypes associated with this age
group. Evidence indicates the importance and centrality of
sexuality through out the development of the human family from
primitive to modern times. Research, although still rudimentary,
has provided data which indicated the continuity of the interest
in and need and capacity for sexual expression among human
beings into the ninth decade of their lives. Most of the early research
on sex focused on the physical acts of intercourse and orgasm but
ignored the whole person. It has now become increasingly evident
that the whole person -personality, physiology, and integrated
life experiences – is involved in sexual-sensual behavior. There is
little doubt that gender identity, role ascription, and the qualities
of femaleness and maleness contribute to the sexual behavior of
every human being; yet these attributes are largely submerged in
the neuterdom assumed to be the state of the late middle and
older ages. The many jokes and stories that ridicule sexuality in
the later years accurately reflect our society’s hostile, insulting
attitudes towards both sex and old age. The stereotyping of older
men and women as sexless is the ultimate example of ageism. But,
as with other forms of prejudice, this devastating myth about the
nature of ageing can be laid to rest once we obtain and
disseminate correct information regarding various myths about
sexuality in the elderly from physiological, psychological and
social perspectives.
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| Physical Description: | p.88-99 Vol. 23, No. 1, 2009 |