Sexuality in older age
While the human body has some limits on the maximum age for reproduction, sexual activity can be performed or experienced well into the later years of life.
However, with the advent of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) treatments, the effects of menopause have lessened and women have more opportunities to continue experiencing a pleasurable and active sex life.
This population percentage increase requires placing more attention on the needs of this age group, including their ideas on sexual health, desires, and attitudes.
A major problem with improving education and seeking solutions for aging sexual health risks is the lack of verbal discussion on these matters from older individuals.
"[3] Another major problem with improving education and seeking solutions for aging sexual health risks was found after researchers looked at the readiness and training of 777 physicians and 452 nurse practitioners from the American Medical Association Masterfile.
[6] One of the main reasons they develop this opinion is because of the decreased risk of pregnancy, but they often fail to acknowledge that protection is necessary to prevent the circulation of STDs.
To better support the aging population, we need to actively involve older adults and disabled individuals in policy making, research, and tailored messaging programs.
Finally, SH programs and messaging must include and cater to older adults to incorporate the entirety of the sexually active population.
Their collaborative design and process demonstrates that social innovators could use co-creation methods to identify and develop health services that are more responsive to the needs of older adults and people with disabilities.
A research agenda that specifically includes these underrepresented groups promotes inclusivity and diversity and generates more evidence for best-practice guidance and programming.
SH policymakers should prioritize the needs of an aging population, ensuring SHS receive funding for accommodating older adults, especially those with disabilities.
Physiological changes associated with aging and a greater prevalence of chronic illness can negatively affect sexual functioning and discourage intimacy among older adults.
[12] Ongoing social stigmas surrounding sexuality, embarrassment and dissatisfaction with clinical interactions, and seeming disinterest from doctors are not new obstacles to older populations concerning SH.
However, these obstacles are causing increasingly salient effects as global populations age while continuing to be underrepresented in SH programs, messaging, and education.
[16] This attitude has gradually changed because a greater number of people are reaching 55 and above, and are remaining sexually active far into their senior years.
Population experts at the U.S. Bureau of the Census expect the percentage to continue to rise dramatically during the next 20 years, eventually reaching 21 percent by 2050, which is more than one in five.
These representations create in turn social injunctions that position sexual activity as a marker of fulfillment,[23] a discourse already affecting younger people and amplified by various products, pills, and available medical treatments.
In the early 1990s, The British sitcom Waiting for God (TV series) featured two protagonists who were resident in a retirement home for older people, engaging in casual sex together.
The film Something's Gotta Give, starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, explores the relationship that develops between two people in later life.
The Netflix original, Grace and Frankie, features Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as two elderly women recently divorced from their husbands seeking guidance through life with the help of each other.
The "Ménage à Moi", as they have it named, is a vibrator targeting elderly women to use for sexual satisfaction, and the show features the struggles surrounding marketing such a product.
