Does sexual freedom belong only to the young? About six years ago, Claire Dederer realized she had a problem. The problem had to do with sex. It had to do with desire. It assaulted her notions of what it meant to be a grown-up woman in the world and wanting to have romantic encounters with men who were not her husband. She loved her husband. Obviously, she loved her children, her family, the life they had built together. Or, to put it more crudely, she wanted to fuck around. At the time of her realization, Dederer had worked for many years as a critic, first in film and then in books. She never planned to be a memoirist, but found herself splicing more and more personal history into whatever review she happened to be working on.
‘A 78-year-old patient said she was having a bit of trouble because her partner was on Viagra’
Introduction
Log in to view full text. If you're not a subscriber, you can:. Colleague's E-mail is Invalid. Your message has been successfully sent to your colleague.
Product details
Why did it take us so long to get to this point, and what ignited the shift? In short, the slow torching of the patriarchy and the power of women everywhere reclaiming their own narratives, including their sexual journeys. It used to be that once women had kids and reached middle age, they were seen as having fulfilled their societal obligation and therefore sex was no longer necessary — a myth that was also perpetuated on screen. Though porn has long revered the sexuality of older women, watching that finally shift over to the cable TV space is a radical pivot toward a freedom that women like Eve were never afforded in the past. Her son has just gone to college and she learns to refocus her attention on her own needs, including what turns her on. Just like their younger peers, some just want to have companions that they can count on to satisfy their sexual hunger. Women have always wanted to have great sex, however and with whomever they want.
Researchers said some middle-aged women had adapted to the changes brought on by the march of time. Even though they tended to have sex less often, these women discovered that their satisfaction has actually increased with age. The women put this down to more self-confidence, better communication skills — such as the ability to persuade their male partner's to take drugs for erectile dysfunction — and greater self-knowledge. Women tended to point to relationship discord and sexual dysfunction or health problems in their partners as the reasons why they were having less sex or had a lower libido. Those women who reported enjoying sex more reported using a number of different techniques, such as vaginal lubricants, lengthening foreplay and having different kinds of sex other than penetrative intercourse. They also tended to try different sexual positions, masturbate more and encourage their partners to use erectile dysfunction treatments. The Italian village of Acciaroli has attracted attention from scientists because an unusually high number of people — one in 10 — live to more than And sex could be part of the reason. Maybe living long has something to do with that.
