Addressing sexuality in old age has often been a marginal topic due to lack of knowledge, modesty or even discomfort.
There are multiple beliefs—many fallacious and unscientific—that limit the development and expression of sexuality, causing the sexual interests of the elderly person to be underestimated, or even ignored. But it is important to include it as a factor that is associated with the well-being and comprehensive health of people in general and the elderly in particular.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that sexuality is a central aspect in human life and that it is present throughout the entire life trajectory. Among the factors that make it up, sex, gender identity and roles, diversity and sexual orientation, eroticism, intimacy, pleasure and reproduction stand out. This definition addresses its modes of expression through cognitive (thoughts, fantasies, beliefs, attitudes), affective (desires, values and emotions), and social (roles, bonds, practices) elements; which may be present, totally or partially, and their expression may vary depending on the people and the cultural and historical contexts in which they are situated.
For its part, erotica describes the variety of ways in which a culture processes the idea of sex. It can be understood as the conception, authorization, legitimation and social prohibition of the psychophysical needs associated with sexual desire and satisfaction; modulating and regulating enjoyment, taking into account a series of cultural variants such as age, gender or others. Finally, eroticism involves the interpretation, production and appropriation of enjoyment from a personal dimension since it allows representing allusive forms of the sexual, combining images, affects and sensations.
The nature of sexual expression in old age reflects the complex interaction between body, mind and social context. The belief about the inadequacy of sexuality in old age is associated with criteria that considered it to have a strong pathological potential.
The conception that was held was that older people should abstain from sex since, if not repressed, it could lead to perversion, pedophilia, or physical risk, such as dying during the sexual act.
Others focus on the exercise of sexuality as a means of reproduction and therefore, intercourse stands as the model of the “sexual relationship.” From this criterion, aging would imply the end of reproduction, especially in women, and that certain changes in physical functions, such as difficulties with erections or decreased lubrication, become certain barriers to sexuality.
Finally, another of the firmest beliefs is the non-inclusion of older people in traditional aesthetic-erotic frameworks, which generates an implicit rejection of considering them as objects of desire.
This entire corpus of beliefs is transformed into a model for controlling behaviors and emotions that impacts the aging subject, as well as their environments and the professionals who deal with this issue.
Intersaberes, Educational Professional Group: Lic. Del Rosso Julieta; Lic. Elissalt, Lucia; Lic. Ferreyra Luisina; Lic. Marchini Amalia; Lic. Torres Marilda.
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