Too Old for Sex?

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I'm too old for that sort of thing!

Some deeply ingrained and damaging beliefs about sex, sexuality, maleness and femaleness only truly become evident with advancing age. They can include:

Sex at my age is disgraceful

I'm too old to even consider masturbating

Passionate sex is for young people

I am perverted because I still masturbate

I'm far too old to be interested in pornographic films/pictures

Sexual desire should have stopped now I've had my 'change'

All of these ideas - and others like them - are completely false. If you find yourself disagreeing with that statement, consider the following questions:

How did you find out what the upper age is for any form of sexual activity?

Who taught you that and why? And how did they know?

How do you know they were telling you the truth?

If you still have desires, where did they come from and why do you have them?

If you think that "it's all right for some people but not for me," how can that be so?

Try to avoid the temptation to dismiss the questions or to fall back on to the "everybody knows" type of answer; instead, ask yourself if the ideas you hold are even partly true. Sexual pleasure is available for all who are capable of it and who want it; advancing age should never be the sole limitation - there are people in their 80s who are still enjoying an active sex life and it has been proven often enough that, in general, and interest in sexual activity makes for better physical health.

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