"Denying older people’s sexuality is an affront to their dignity" - The Conversation (Australia)

[Guest member25959]

Damn, I forgot all about my asexuality alerts in gMail Dx Anyway, here's an article from Australia's "The Conversation" from last week, which discusses asexuality among the old-aged

Here's the link

And for future purposes, in case they ever delete the article...

Sexual expression is important for the health and well-being of older people.
victor asensio

20 March 2013, 2.36pm AEST

Denying older people’s sexuality is an affront to their dignity

You wouldn’t be alone in feeling frustrated, isolated,
devalued and depressed if you were suddenly labelled “asexual” at your
next birthday. Millions of older Australians feel the same way when
they’re suddenly assumed to be asexual at their 65th birthday.

But research shows that older people are sexual and that sexual expression is important for emotional well-being as we age.

Changing agenda

Aged-care providers want to understand how to manage sexually
challenging behaviour in their facilities. Responding to sexual
behaviour by clients with cognitive impairment is of particular concern.

In response, educators have focused on the rights of older people to
sexuality and affirmative responses to sexual expression. Much education
aims to help service providers understand that the challenge is not
just determining the capacity of an older person to consent to sexual
activity, but also putting aside their own values and beliefs in order
to meet client needs.

This focus on affirmative responses to sexual expression,
particularly for clients with cognitive impairment, is welcome. Other
developments include recognition of sexual, and gender, diversity and
the need to prevent sexual assault. These changes are significant in
their own right but, collectively, they hint at the emergence of a new
agenda that recognises the rights of older people to sexual health.

Recognition of diversity

Perceptions of older people as asexual have resulted in failure to
recognise that they are sexually and gender diverse. But significant
reforms followed the 2012 release of the Productivity Commission’s Caring for Older Australians report.

The report outlined the discrimination encountered by older lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people – and the
negative impact this had on their physical and mental health. It noted
that aged-care services need to ready themselves to meet the needs of
LGBTI people.

In response, the federal government has amended the Aged Care Act to include older LGBTI people as a special needs group, allocated funding for training and commenced development of a National Strategy for LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care. These changes will greatly improve the health and well-being of older GLBTI people.

Recognition of sexual assault

The myth of asexuality in ageing has also contributed to a delay in
recognising and preventing the sexual assault of older women. Data on
rates of sexual assault of older women have been collected in
residential aged care since 2009 – but numbers are all we have.

According to the Report on the Operation of the Aged Care Act for the 2011-2012 period, there were 344 reports of “alleged or suspected unlawful sexual contact”.

Without evidence of the factors that contribute to the vulnerability
of older women to sexual assault, primary prevention is impossible.
Thankfully, reform in this area began last year when the federal
government funded a group at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University to conduct research and education in this area.

The researchers will interview older women, their families and
service providers about sexual assault, then develop resources and
information to prevent sexual assault. Early data from the study
indicates that perceptions of asexuality is likely to be a contributing
factor.

Indeed it’s clear is that perceptions of older people’s asexuality
have resulted in serious failures – in recognising the sexual and gender
diversity of older people and preventing sexual assault. Current
reforms provide a welcome opportunity to change this.

We need to recognise the sexual rights of older people and to promote
their health and well-being. None of us would want to be labelled
asexual just because of our age.

Interesting article...

[Sally]

Oh crap, now they're going to assume that anyone over 65 who DOESN'T want sex is abnormal. For years if older people DID want sex, they were abnormal. Geezers just can't win.

And yes, I don't know why the word asexual is used in that article.

[Jazmin]

Yeah, I don't think the writers of the article know the true meaning of asexual. Well, not the definition used on Aven anyway.

Perhaps a better word they could have used is "non-sexual"? Or even "not sexually active". That's probably what they were trying to get at - that there's a notion that once people reach a certain age, they stop engaging in sexual activity...which isn't true of ALL older people.

[thylacine]

I think that for people to constantly deny my (and yours and ours) asexuality is an affront to my (and yours and ours) dignity.

[Melorian]

Yes I think that the word 'asexual' they use in the article is a choice made out of ignorance. They should have said that people over 65 are seen as not sexually active. There's a big difference. When I told my doctor I was asexual she wrote on my notes that I am not sexually active. I had to explain the difference to her - sexually active assumes that there is a switch between being active and not - a changing state from one to the other. Being asexual means I don't have the attraction. I told her that one could be a sexually active asexual, but she didn't really get it. Shame.

[Guest member25959]

Yeah certainly an "interesting" article to say the least... their use of asexual seemed incredibly strange