Aging and Sexuality

AGING AND SEXUALITY

Sexuality in older people is not emphasized and is often overlooked or misunderstood. In fact, in humans, it is generally not possible to be “too old” for sex and intimacy. It is assumed that people over sixty do not have sexual desires or the ability to perform in old age. This is a more common worry among older males. Older women may feel ashamed about their sexual desires.

Even so, older people see sex as a way to express affection, passion, romance, and life affirmation. It affirms their physical functioning and preserves their self-confidence and sense of identity. Sex is pleasurable to older people as much as younger people. Things like physical disability, fear, fatigue, and boredom can adversely affect an older person’s sexual desire. These things can be made worse by loss of a sex partner, medical problems, medications, or depression.

Research has been done to interview older adults about their sexuality. It should be noted that asking about sexuality in the older population is not often done. About 70 percent of individuals feel that sex is negatively impacted by their older age with half indicating that age was mainly responsible for their lowered sexual desires.

More men blame poor health on loss of sexual function than women, while more women say that loss of a spouse affected their sexual desire. Roughly equal numbers simply blame advancing age or things like finances and job loss on lack of sexual desire. Women are more likely to say that their sexual desire has dropped a great deal with age. Nonworking adults have a greater degree of sexual desire losses than working adults.

About half of all older people still want sexual activity of some kind at least one a week, even though only 40 percent actually follow through on this. The older the person, the less likely they were to want regular sex or to have regular sex. Sex at a rate of at least once per month was experienced by about 70 percent of older adults. Older men are more likely to be sexually active than older women.

There is a decreased interest in non-sexual activities, like hugging, kissing, or other expressions of intimacy, particularly in older women. Twice as many men are sexually active as older women. Men are more interested in both non-coital and coital activity