Individual and relational contributors to optimal sexual experiences in older men and women : A. Dana Ménard, Peggy J. Kleinplatz, Lianne Rosen, Shannon Lawless, Nicholas Paradis, Meghan Campbell and Jonathan D. Huber

chapter 6

16 Pages

Individual and relational contributors to optimal sexual experiences in older men and women

A. Dana Ménard, Peggy J. Kleinplatz, Lianne Rosen, Shannon Lawless, Nicholas Paradis, Meghan Campbell and Jonathan D. Huber

Older adults have often been depicted as largely asexual: physically unattractive, uninter-

ested in sex, and/or physiologically unable to engage in sexual behaviours (Bouman,

Arcelus, & Benbow, 2006; Gott & Hinchliff, 2003; Waltz, 2002). The media has

*Corresponding author. Email: kleinpla@uottawa.ca

and Therapy,

Vol. 30, No. 1, 7893, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2014.931689

SEXUALITY & AGEING

reinforced this message. Explicit depictions of sexualized older adults remain taboo or

marginalized as the subject of ridicule (i.e., “dirty old man”; Vares, 2009).