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Sexuality, Sexual Health
and Ageing
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Sexuality, Sexual
Health and Ageing
Merryn Gott
Open University Press
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Open University Press
McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill House
ShoppenhangersRoad
Maidenhead, Berkshire
England SL6 2QL
email: [email protected]
world wide web: www.openup.co.uk
and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121–2289, USA
First published 2005
Copyright © Merryn Gott 2005
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of
criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such
licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing
Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4LP.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 335 21018 X (pb) 0 335 21019 8 (hb)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
CIP data has been applied for
Typeset by BookEns Ltd, Royston, Herts.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, CornwallMP????G Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
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Contents
Series editor’s preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Part I: Exploring contemporary understandings of sexuality
and ageing 5
1 Why are sexuality and old age incompatible? Unpicking
the myth of the ‘asexual old age’ 7
2 The ‘sexy oldie’. The creation of new myths about sexuality
and ageing 23
Part II: Focusing upon older people’s experiences of sexuality
and ageing 43
3 What do we ‘know’ about sexuality and ageing? A new
look at the literature 45
4 How important is sex to older people? 62
5 Diversity and later life sexuality 77
Part III: Sexual health, sexual problems and ageing 93
6 Sexual risk-taking and sexually transmitted infections in
later life 95
7 Sexual ‘dysfunctions’ and ageing 110
8 Health professionals’ views on later life sexuality
and sexual health 128
9 Conclusion 148
References 151
Index 167
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Series editor’s preface
Sexuality, Sexual Health and Ageing by Merryn Gott is the twentieth book to be
published in the Rethinking Ageingseries and it seems appropriate to locate it
in the context of what has been achieved. Theseries was planned in the early
1990s, following the rapid growth in ageing populations in Britain and other
countries that led to a dramatic increase in academic and professional inter-
est in gerontology. In the 1970s and 80s there was a steady increase in the
publication of research studies which defined the characteristics and needs of
older people. There were also a small number of theoretical attempts to re-
conceptualise the meaning of old age and to explore new ways in which we
could think about ageing. By the early 1990s, however, a palpable gap had
emerged between what was known about ageing by gerontologists and the
very limited amount of information which was readily available to the
growing number of people with a professional or personal interest in old age.
The Rethinking Ageing series was conceived as a response to that ‘knowledge
gap’.
The first book to be published in the new series was Age, Race and Ethnicity
by Ken Blakemore and Margaret Boneham. In the series editor’s preface I set
out the main aim of the Rethinking Ageingseries which was to focus on a topic
of current concern or interest in ageing by addressing two fundamental ques-
tions: what is known about this topic? and, what are the policy and practice
implications of this knowledge? We wanted authors to provide a readable
and stimulating review of current knowledge, but also to rethinktheir subject
area by developing their own ideas in the light of their particular research
and experience. We also believed it was essential that the books should be
both scholarly and written in clear, non-technical, language that would
appeal equally to a broad range of students, academics and professionals with
a common interest in ageing and age care.
The books published in this series have ranged broadly in subject matter,
including policy and practice in health and community care, ageism, remi-
niscence, residential care, the politics of later life, and dementia. We have
been very pleased that the response by readers and reviewers has been
extremely positive to almost all of the titles and that some have had a pro-
found influence on thought and practice – for example, Tom Kitwood’s
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Dementia Reconsidered is widely regarded as a seminal text. The success of the
series appears therefore to have justified its original aims.
Now, well over a decade later, age is a prominent topic in media and gov-
ernment policy debates. This reflects a new awareness of the demographic
situation. However, although there is more interest in ageing and old age
than when we started the Rethinking Ageing series, we believe there is still a
need for the serious but accessible, topic-based books about ageing that it
offers. Moreover, having addressed many of the staple topics of gerontology,
we felt five years ago that it was time for the series to extend its subject-
matter to include emerging topics and those whose importance were yet to
be widely appreciated. Among the first books to reflect this policy were
Maureen Crane’s Understanding Older Homeless People and John Vincent’s
Politics, Power and Old Age. More recently, Mike Hepworth’s Stories of Ageing
was the first book by an author based in the UK to explore the potential of
literary fiction as a gerontological resource. At the same time, we have con-
tinued to include topics of established interest as reflected in 2002 in Housing
and Home in Later Life by Frances Heywood, Christine Oldman and Robin
Means, and earlier this year, Quality of Lifeby John Bond and Lynne Corner.
As the twentieth book in the series we are very happy to publish a ground-
breaking study of sexuality, sexual health and ageing. Not only does Merryn
Gott address a topic which even today is seldom discussed, she does so by
questioning both the traditional view that older people are asexual and the
new myth of what she calls the ‘sexy oldie’, suggesting that the latter may be
equally as oppressive as the former. Focusing upon studies of older people’s
experience, she raises important questions such as: what do we know about
sexuality and ageing? How important is sex to older people? And how do
people differ in respect of later life sexuality?
Gott examines the social framework of sexuality in relation to ageing and
argues that sexuality does not have to have just one meaning. For example,
she suggests that prevalent definitions of sexuality may be too narrow with
rates of sexual intercourse being regarded as the only measure of sexual
activity and other forms of sexuality being disregarded. In questioning too
the wisdom of the new social emphasis on the responsibility of the ageing
person to remain sexual (rather than regarding this as a choice), Gott opens
up an important area for debate and makes a strong case for viewing sexual-
ity within the totality of later life experience.
As the title of her book suggests, Gott also examines sexual health and
sexual problems drawing on empirical studies including her own research.
Among the key questions she addresses are: what is sexual health? What is
the extent of sexual ‘dysfunction’ among older people? What is the impact of
sexual problems on older individuals and upon sexual relationships? And
what are older people’s experiences of seeking treatment for sexual prob-
lems? In the final chapter she considers the health professional’s role in later
life sexuality and makes recommendations concerning sexual health man-
agement.
This is a deeply considered and lucidly argued book which questions our
assumptions on an important topic and presents new evidence. It will move
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forward the debate on sexuality in later life and is an excellent addition to
the Rethinking Ageingseries.
Brian Gearing
School of Health and Social Welfare
The Open University
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Description:·What factors underpin dominant understandings of later life sexuality? · How do older people experience and prioritise sexuality and sexual health? ·What sexual health issues are relevant to older people and how are these addressed by health care professionals? This is the first book to integrat
