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老年期的性行為最近成了一個時髦的話題。不僅科學出版物，而且普及性的書籍和雜誌已經逐漸把注意力轉向了這個從前被忽視的主題。
忽視的理由之一曾經是這個令人遺憾的個體“生命週期”的觀念，把老年期看作是回復生命的較早時期，即當作“第二孩童期（second
childhood）”。社會未曾把幼兒期和高齡老年期都認定為有任何性興趣的時期。的確，在“老齡醫療處所（senior
residences）”和療養院裏，有人常常有意否認老人延續他們正存續的任何性關係的機會。直到上世紀70年代，這種境況才開始發生改變：西方大眾媒體忽然發現老年人是人口中不斷增加的一個族群，而且是廣告和其它市場謀劃的目標人群。人們開始認識到人的壽命現在比以往延長了，卻保持相對較健康的體魄，金錢多多。換一句話說，老人是一連串產品或服務的潛在消費者，從國外旅遊到健康療養院，從汽車旅店到運動器材，從美膚奶霜到維生素丸，到流行時尚，到娛樂消費，不一而足。其結果是，老人們不久就發現自己變成了
“香餑餑”，受人奉承，被人描繪成性欲胃口未有減退而追尋快樂的“有閑階層（leisure
class）”。
不過，（對老年人所描述的）這種新形象就像舊面貌一樣地虛假。生物年齡的老化過程不可避免地會導致生理活力的流失，並且也包括性欲精力的流失。性能力和性行動（sexual
performance）會降低，顯現出老態龍鍾：頭髮花白或脫失，肌肉鬆軟和皮膚褶皺，聽力和視力減退，所有的生理反應和行動緩慢。不過，幸運的是，沒有其中一項必定意味著和會結束令人陶醉的性關係。年過中年的婦女和男人如果沒有否認自己的身體體能下降的話，如果到了老年學會忽視一些傳統上僵化的“性”腳本，他們仍能夠獲得性滿足。 |
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Sexual behavior in old age has lately become a fashionable topic. Not only scientific publications, but also popular books and magazines have increasingly turned their attention to this formerly neglected subject.
One reason for the neglect was the unfortunate idea of an individual “life cycle” which saw old age as a return to the earlier stages of life, i.e. as a “second childhood”. Both the very young and the very old were not supposed to have any sexual interests. Indeed, in “senior residences” and nursing homes, ageing women and men were often deliberately denied any opportunity to continue existing sexual relationships or to establish new ones. It was not until the 1970s that the picture began to change: The Western mass media suddenly discovered the old as a growing segment of the population and as a target for advertising and other marketing strategies. One began to realize that people now lived longer, stayed healthier, and had more money to spend than ever before. In other words, the old were potential customers for a large array of products, from foreign travel and cruises to wellness hotels, motor homes, sports equipment, beauty creams, vitamin pills, fashions, and entertainment. As a result, they soon found themselves courted, flattered, and portrayed as a new “leisure class” of hedonistic pleasure seekers with undiminished erotic appetites.
However, this new image is as false
as the old one. The biological aging process inevitably leads to a loss of physical energy, and this includes erotic energy. Sexual capacity and performance diminish, and the body shows its age: Head hair becomes white or is lost, muscles become flabby and the skin wrinkly,
hearing and eyesight become impaired, all physical reactions and movements slow down. Fortunately, however, none of this has to mean and end to satisfying sexual relationships.
Without denying their own physical decline, elderly women and men can still find erotic fulfillment if they learn to ignore some of the traditional, stereotypical scripts about “sex” in old age. |
