Sex and the Elderly

BBC News has two good articles dealing with sex and the elderly. The annual meeting of the British Society of Gerontology will be devoted to sexual issues, aiming to dispel the myth that old people have no interest in sex. The second piece is a "real people tell their own stories" column by a 78-year-old great-grandmother who still enjoys sex. "I do still see myself as a sexual being, even though I no longer get wolf whistles in the street. I've never been particularly hung up on my body image, but I am sometimes surprised that Sam finds me attractive.... I do have to listen to a lot more moans and groans of the 'Ow, my aching back' variety; and we both suffer from cramp from time to time, which always sends us into fits of giggles." (Sep 2002)

The South Korean film Too Young to Die chronicles a love affair between two septuagenarians who meet at a senior citizens center. The film is making the rounds of international festivals, but the Korea Media Rating Board has declared it "unfit for public viewing" in domestic cinemas. The KMRB objects to an explicit seven-minute scene showing the elderly couple making love, which director Park Jin-pyo refuses to delete or blur. More. (Sep 2002)

The Taipei Times profiles Japanese filmmaker Hamano Sachi, who worked in the porn film industry for thirty years before branching out into non-porn feature films. She was one of the few women directors in the Japanese porn industry. "I love making movies, which was the reason why I started with porn films. In 1966, porn was younger and more flexible and women were accepted in the industry. The feature film industry back then strictly excluded women." Two of Hamano's films are playing at the Women Makes Waves film festival in Taiwan this week. Her film Lily Festival is described here as "a witty and humorous story depicting eroticism in a senior citizen's apartment. When a honey-tongued geriatric Romeo moves into a nursing home with seven women, the gender roles of Snow White and the seven dwarfs are suddenly reversed." (Sep 2002)

Good article by Lisa Anderson about how caregivers deal with sex among the elderly. "Senior citizens don't automatically check their sex lives at the nursing home door, a fact most nursing homes don't address and many younger Americans don't even want to think about. But dealing with the pleasures and problems posed by sexual behavior among the elderly is receiving heightened attention as the long-term care industry braces for the arrival of the Baby Boom generation." (Jun 2002)

IKEA ad Another advertisement featuring a naked elderly woman is causing a fuss. IKEA is using this photograph in magazine ads and billboards in select cities. Jane Von Bergen writes, "This lady is as naked as the day is long, a testimony to Isaac Newton's law of gravity -- what was up is now assuredly heading down. But she has inner beauty (or at least inner chutzpah) and a joie de vivre, which is why Ikea's advertising agency tapped her for the job of flashing the furniture retailer's image." Some cities and magazines have insisted on an alternate version with the woman wearing a bikini. O, Oprah Winfrey's private label magazine, rejected the ad even with the bikini.
Philadelphia Inquirer (Oct 2001)

Benetton likes to break down taboos and rile bourgeois sensibilities with its advertisements, and it has apparently succeeded again. Nicole Pery, junior minister for women's rights in the French government, this week denounced a new Benetton ad featuring an elderly female nudist as a "pitiful provocation." The Benetton campaign honors the United Nations Year of the Volunteer, and this ad features Marianna Handler, a retired German photographer living in California, who holds the voluntary post of "Beach Mom" at her local nudist beach. Check out a higher quality version of this ad (167k) at Benetton's web site. How could anyone find this offensive? And when did the French get so damned uptight? I can only assume that Pery went to graduate school in the USA and fell in with a bad crowd.
Yahoo | Benetton (Oct 2001)

Some retirement communities in Denmark allow their elderly residents to watch porn videos in the communal TV area and to receive regular visits from prostitutes. One residence manager says, "Like in all other homes we have a council consisting of residents. If they decide that they want to watch porn films in the main living room once a week, we will do it. We do not reject any propositions. That way, older people's sexual needs stop being a taboo".
Ananova (Sep 2001)

In the Washington Post, Michelle Nicolosi looks at the sex lives of older single heterosexuals and their general lack of concern over safe sex and HIV. "Dating seniors are often widowed or divorced after decades in one relationship. With many men newly able, thanks to Viagra, and their female partners well past worrying about pregnancy, many forgo condoms." A sidebar contains an extensive list of safe sex tips and resources for seniors. There's a discussion thread on Plastic about this story.
Washington Post | Plastic (Jul 2001)

Sex and the Elderly

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