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老年期的性行为最近成了一个时髦的话题。不仅科学出版物，而且普及性的书籍和杂志已经逐渐把注意力转向了这个从前被忽视的主题。
忽视的理由之一曾经是这个令人遗憾的个体“生命周期”的观念，把老年期看作是回复生命的较早时期，即当作“第二孩童期（second
childhood）”。社会未曾把幼儿期和高龄老年期都认定为有任何性兴趣的时期。的确，在“老龄医疗处所（senior
residences）”和疗养院里，有人常常有意否认老人延续他们正存续的任何性关系的机会。直到上世纪70年代，这种境况才开始发生改变：西方大众媒体忽然发现老年人是人口中不断增加的一个族群，而且是广告和其他市场谋划的目标人群。人们开始认识到人的寿命现在比以往延长了，却保持相对较健康的体魄，金钱多多。换一句话说，老人是一连串产品或服务的潜在消费者，从国外旅游到健康疗养院，从汽车旅店到运动器材，从美肤奶霜到维生素丸，到流行时尚，到娱乐消费，不一而足。其结果是，老人们不久就发现自己变成了
“香饽饽”，受人奉承，被人描绘成性欲胃口未有减退而追寻快乐的“有闲阶层（leisure
class）”。
不过，（对老年人所描述的）这种新形象就像旧面貌一样地虚假。生物年龄的老化过程不可避免地会导致生理活力的流失，并且也包括性欲精力的流失。性能力和性行动（sexual
performance）会降低，显现出老态龙钟：头发花白或脱失，肌肉松软和皮肤褶皱，听力和视力减退，所有的生理反应和行动缓慢。不过，幸运的是，没有其中一项必定意味着和会结束令人陶醉的性关系。年过中年的妇女和男人如果没有否认自己的身体体能下降的话，如果到了老年学会忽视一些传统上僵化的“性”脚本，他们仍能够获得性满足。 |
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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. |
