I don’t know why “some people” in the USA are surprised to know that those over the age of 65 still “have sex.” What were they thinking? Do “some people” really believe that the need and desire for sex suddenly evaporates when you hit a certain age? They shouldn’t; history has proven otherwise. It isn’t only the young who are restless. A gynecologist in Victorian England recorded that “ladies, well past their child-bearing years, make their spouses very happy by continuing to be available for intimate pleasures. Sexual activity is even more pleasurable because there is no longer a worry about an unplanned pregnancy.”
The sky it seemed was the limit then. Imagine what it is like now as the Boomer generation of the sixties is healthier and more active in all areas of their lives including sex.
The desire for sex is a desire like no other. Technically, at least, we don’t need it for basic survival. We need water, we need food and shelter; those are our basic needs. But we damn well crave sex and sometimes it gets to a point where we’re willing to forego some necessary basics to have it.
Remember when you were a kid and your math skills determined that your parents had only "done it" as many times as there were children in the family? You have a brother? That means mom and Dad only did it twice. Two brothers and a sister? Omigod! They did it four times! That was it though; it was beyond your comprehension to think they were still doing it.
While it common for anyone under the age of twenty, (and many others over that age), to cringe at the idea that their parents are actually “doing it,” it is a fact that can’t be denied. We’re doing it; why shouldn't they still do it?
Sex may not be one of the basics we need to subsist but it is of paramount importance to all creatures and not only in the area of child production. Reasoning mammals love sexual activity and humans have long ago figured out that intercourse needn’t produce offspring. Without that worry, sex becomes an anticipated pleasure.
Sex is wonderful. Nowhere else can we feel that incredible exhilaration that is at once and the same time savage and sweet, animalistic and also unbelievably human. Sexual pleasure is a strong urgent need. Let’s face it, it isn’t called the sex drive for nothing.
Because of our Puritan past in the USA, it was erroneously assumed that once women hit menopause they lost interest in sex. Religions perpetrated the idea that once your child-bearing years were over so was your sex life. Unbelievably there were women and men who actually believed this so-called religious unresonable reasoning. Having sex without having children somehow seemed sinful. When they had urges they were embarrassed by them.
Europeans seem to have a freer attitude about aging and sex. It is accepted that your parents and even your grandparents are having sex the same as you are. It is not only accepted it is celebrated as a healthy, normal part of life.
Sex among the seniors is something that has always been no matter what anyone thinks. The fact that it can be discussed openly today is very freeing. A healthy mind, body, and sex life is great for anyone at any age.
I don't know about anyone else but the idea of continuing to have sex as we age gives me hope for the future. All those Pilates classes I take won't go to waste it seems. God bless the seniors; life (and sex) doesn't end at thirty after all.
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© 2009 all rights reserved Kristen Houghton
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Comments
You better believe there is sex after 60.Teens didn't invent it. It is an art not a wham bam.
Thanks Kristen for this information. People should understand that there is nothing ugly or yuck about older people enjoying sex. We are older not long gone.
Yeah we old folk still get it going. Thanks Kristen
old people may have sex or getting it on with one another but you don't want to make a sex video or dvd out of it and expect sales to go through the roof. there's a certain separation from the rest of the world when it comes to sex in their senior years. nobody really has to know, this is the bottomline old truth.
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