Sexuality in the Elderly:
Sexual Dysfunction and Ways of Coping
Over the last century, the life expectancy of the elderly has increased. This means that the largest growing population right now, in the United States, is persons over the age of 65 (Sex Tips for Older Adults, 2000). With this in mind, it would be helpful to talk about the personal aspects or as I like to call it, "sex lives" of the elderly. When people in our society think of the elderly, they almost never think of this population having sex or good sex for that matter. But they do! Unfortunately, the elderly encounter problems with sex as they become older and that is what I will be discussing along with way of coping with sexual dysfunction.
Sexual dysfunction can be defined as the inability to partake in or enjoy sexual relationship with one's partner as a result of underlying physical and/or psychological factors (Hoel, 1998). Physical attributions play a large part in both males and females and their ability to perform and enjoy sex. Males encounter several normal changes as they become older. A decrease in the hormone testosterone is very common amongst males with increasing age. Testosterone is beneficial because it gives a decrease in body fat, an increase in energy, including sexual energy, and an increase in lean muscle. These factors are important for physical attraction one has for another, definitely improving the outcome of sexual arousal. The size and firmness of the testicles may be reduced because of this decrease as well. The sexual response phase also changes with age. During the beginning of sex, an older man may experience a delay in his erection and when erect, the penis may not be as firm as when younger. ...
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... the past and is effective in approximately 25-35% of patients with erectile dysfunction (Murdock, 2002).
The truth is, human beings are fortunately never too old to enjoy a happy and healthy sex life. Many people, young and old alike, are astounded at the idea of people remaining sexually active through their elder years. Having a good sex life when your sixty years old is possible for both men and women.
References
Demeter, Debora (1998). The Human Sexuality: Sex and the Elderly. Retrieved November 10, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.umkc.edu/sites/hsw/age/
Hoehl, James J. (1998,Winter). Archives of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Sexual Dysfunction and the Elderly. (vol.2,no.1)[Online.]
Medcohealth. Women and Aging: Our lives due change (2002). Retrieved November 18, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.medcohealth.com
In the second chapter, The A, B, C, and Ds of Sex (and Asex), Brock University Associate Professor and Asexuality author, Bogaert, examines “some of the fundamental psychological processes of asexuality as they relate to both sexual and asexual people.” Throughout this section, Bogaert explains the “A (attraction and arousal), B (behavior), C (cognition), and Ds (desire)” by going through each letter and explaining what it stands for. He tries to get the younger readers to understand the definitions of asexuality by aiming focus on the constituents of sexuality first. The similarities between sexuality and asexuality are outlined throughout this reading. Surprisingly enough, Bogaert explains the differences and the relationship between romantic and sexual bonds and how they appear in asexual people as well.
The reason I am writing this paper is to share the information I attained about human sexuality by learning about sexuality in a college setting and by exploring my sexuality through personal experiences. I do not consider myself to have experienced much exposure to sexual behavior but I do have a cultural bias to what I consider a heavy amount of exposure because the North American culture is considered more promiscuous and sexually active than other cultures.
Kazer, M. W. (2012). Sexuality assesment for older adults. Try this: Best Practices in Nursing
In the article “An Anthropological Look at Human Sexuality” the authors, Patrick Gray and Linda Wolfe speak about how societies look at human sexuality. The core concept of anthology is the idea of culture, the systems of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors people acquire as a member of society. The authors give an in depth analysis on how human sexuality is looked at in all different situations.
...ed clinical trials: part 1-the efficacy of psychosocial interventions for male sexual dysfunction. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 9(12), 3089-3107. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02970.x
The purpose of this short interview is to ask an elder person, at least the age of 40 years old, about their view of sex during their time and their perspective of how the society has changed. This experiment will illustrate societal and sociological changes that have occurred. For this project, I interviewed Mrs. Ebony Jackson, a 41 years old Africa-American women. Mrs. Jackson was born in 1975 and grew up in Los Angeles, California. Her family that she grew up in consist of her two sisters, mother, grandmother, and grandfather. I asked Mrs. Jackson if her family ever talk to her about sex or sexuality and the respond I got was a 'no. ' She continued to explain to me how parents and their children are not supposed to mention anything
While thinking about the many topics that I'm concerned about when it comes to older adults, I could not help myself from writing about intimacy and sex. Perhaps because where I come from, sex has been forever a taboo, especially when talking about seniors. However, after starting my internship with older adults, I could not believe that sex is a very common topic among many, and for the ones that are healthy; it can be one of the top topics on their mind.
Katz, Stephen, and Barbara Marshall. "New Sex for old: lifestyle, consumerism, and the ethics of aging well." Journal of Aging Studies 17 (2003): 3-16. Print.
A vast amount of men and women suffer from some type of sexual dysfunction. Researchers have identified a number of factors that may contribute to or perpetuate sexual dysfunction, including, but not limited to, performance anxiety. Performance anxiety is defined as an obsession about the adequate pleasing of one’s partner during the act of sexual intercourse. Rather than focusing on the pleasurable benefits that one can receive from intercourse, the individual experiencing performance anxiety is focused on how well he or she is performing (McCabe, 2005). Oftentimes, someone who suffers from a sexual dysfunction experiences increased performance anxiety because he or she feels that the dysfunction inhibits performance, thus they think the sex is not satisfactory for their partner.
In this paper I will be discussing sexuality issues which mean something to me and which I personally believe need to be discussed. I have or am currently engaging in all of these sexual issues, giving me a firsthand point of view on the topics. Discussing these subjects will bring a different viewpoint and will hopefully help the reader to understand the mindset of those who actual engage in these sexual activities. The culture which I have been around has shaped my views on these issues, either making me agree with the issues or disagree. Either way, I am happy to discuss them and believe this is a great medium to address my feeling towards the matters.
...uch a key impact, it is important that when an issue does arise to take action. All of the sexual dysfunctions can be treated by going through sex therapy. This is where they can talk out their issues that could be causing the sexual dysfunctions and also it can give them ideas and tips to use to enhance the sexual relationship. (Nevid & Ruthus, 2005).
Swerdloff RS, Wang C. The testis and male sexual function. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2011: chap 242.
A kind of sexual dysfunction that affect men is generally termed as erectile dysfunction or impotence. As a result, the person will not be able to develop or maintain an erection of the penis during sexual intercourse. The term and condition is familiar for most of the people in the current society. It can be considered as one of the main causes for infertility issues. Studies have also found another surprising fact that, worse erectile dysfunction may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease and ischemic heart disease etc. All these tend to recommend an early test and diagnosis for mild and moderate levels of erectile dysfunction in individuals. Before that, it is vital that you must understand what is erectile dysfunction and how could you identify it.
Sex has been a taboo subject for many generations in nearly every culture present in the world. Many seem to rely on the traditional idea that one should abstain from sex until marriage, while others evolved and began to exercise the idea of sexual freedom and are not held down by any certain beliefs or traditions. Leslie Bell takes an in-depth look into this complex situation by taking into account various psychoanalytical theories and first-hand experiences in order to make sense of this complicated subject. One can argue that sex becomes a much more complicated rather than a pleasurable experience for women due to the confusing standards that society has put in place, their upbringing from childhood to adulthood, and their overwhelming desire