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Bioethical Issues in Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease
Published in Joel Michael Reynolds, Christine Wieseler, The Disability Bioethics Reader, 2022
Sexual intimacy in the context of dementia is overshadowed by many unhelpful cultural biases, including those involving older people, disabled people, and gender. While we view old trees as magnificent because of their age, with their gnarled and twisted boughs, this view is seldom applied to older people. Older bodies, especially women’s bodies, are viewed as vile, and unfit for anyone to see. This view of older bodies informs the biased commonplace view of older people and their sexual activity. Presumptions about the sexual activity of older people are strongly controlled by biased notions of gender norms and heterosexism. In the commonplace view, older men may have sexual ideas, but these are deeply wrong; older women have no such thoughts at all; and no older person could have a same-sex orientation. Moreover, any expressed interest in physical intimacy might lead toward sexual intimacy, which is assumed to be bad. In the setting of nursing homes, where three fourths of residents have dementia, these biased threads can weave together into restrictive and harmful attitudes and practices. Attempts at physical intimacy between residents are assumed to be problematic – “a lawsuit waiting to happen.” Sexualized approaches to the staff by residents with dementia can result in distress for staff members. However, little training is offered for addressing sexual comments and acts by residents in a respectful and safe fashion.
The popular sector
Published in Miho Ushiyama, Incorporating Patient Knowledge in Japan and the UK, 2019
In terms of physical intimacy with a partner, the following are a few examples of the practical advice given by the NES: If you try to avoid physical or sexual contact with your partner because of how your skin feels, your partner may feel rejected. Explain how it makes you feel physically, what you like, and what gives you pain or causes itching, and try to reach some compromise.Share your skin care regimen with your partner and make it enjoyable.Some positions might be more comfortable than others if certain parts of your body are sore. Experiment together and discuss which positions you both prefer.Having a bath or shower immediately after intercourse can stop your skin becoming irritated. Explain this to your partner—don’t just leap into the shower straight after sex without explanation (Jordan, 2003: 4–6).
Principles and theories
Published in Emily Ying Yang Chan, Disaster Public Health and Older People, 2019
Sexuality in older people might be affected by physiological, psychosocial and socio-environmental changes of ageing in both genders (Ni Lochlainn & Kenny, 2013). Vascular diseases (resulting in erectile dysfunction), medication and treatment (e.g. mastectomy of a woman with breast cancer) might all impact on sexual function. As reported in literature, although most studies appear to focus on problems and vulnerability of sexual function in older age, physical intimacy and sexuality remains an important issue in older age in both genders (Nicolosi, Laumann, Glasser, Moreira, Paik, & Gingell, 2004; Lusti-Narasimha & Beard, 2013). Studies point out that 73% of those aged 57–64, 53% of those aged 65–74, and 26% of those aged 75–84 years old remain sexually active (Lindau, Schumm, Laumann, Levinson, O’Muircheartaigh, & Waite, 2007) (see also Case Box 3.3).
‘Nobody can take the stress away from me’: a qualitative study on experiences of partners of patients with cancer regarding their work and health
Published in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2023
Pieter Coenen, Amber D. Zegers, Nadia de Vreeze, Allard J. van der Beek, Saskia F. A. Duijts
Further, some participants mentioned that the cancer diagnosis and treatment process influenced the romantic relationship with their significant other. Some participants were able to communicate openly and supportively with their significant other, resulting in them feeling closer and stronger as a couple. Others were facing relational difficulties before the cancer diagnosis already and continued to have a strained relationships throughout the experience. Next to communicational issues, some participants mentioned that taking on an informal caregiving role precluded them from feeling like their significant other’s romantic partner. Informal caregiving could make participants feel like they were mothering their significant other. Participants of all age groups and genders mentioned stress related to changes in physical intimacy with their significant other. For some, this put a strain on their relationship:
“What Do You Mean by Sex?” A Qualitative Analysis of Traditional versus Evolved Meanings of Sexual Activity among Older Women and Men
Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2021
In several cases, health-related issues were mentioned as factors leading to practicing sex without intercourse: “Sometimes I felt ill, but that didn’t stop him from hugging and embracing me. It didn’t have to come to intercourse, he was just touching me, caressing me, and it was enough” (F,75). However, more often, the absence of intercourse was not related to any health problems but was rather the result of both partners being satisfied with other forms of physical intimacy and not needing penetrative intercourse, as in the following example: “We constantly want to be closer and closer. This physical closeness is so natural for us and so rewarding. It doesn’t really matter if we have intercourse or not. We lie in bed and stroke each other for hours. It’s the best sex I’ve ever had” (M,67).
The Relationship Between Dimensions of Adult Attachment and Motivation for Faking Orgasm in Women
Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2020
András Láng, Erin B. Cooper, Norbert Meskó
As predicted in hypothesis 3, women with more avoidant attachment used faking orgasm as a means of quickly ending sexual intercourse (SISA). This result is consistent with several—especially motivational— aspects of avoidant individuals’ sexuality. Attachment avoidance is associated with discomfort of closeness (Brassard et al., 2007). Consequently, the physical intimacy involved in penile-vaginal sexual intercourse might be disturbing for women with avoidant attachment. At the same time, avoidant individuals are also motivated to conform to peer norms (i.e., engaging in sexual activity), both in general and in the field of sexuality (Schachner & Shaver, 2004). Thus, faking orgasm to quickly end sexual intercourse might be a means to adhere to peers’ expectations and escape the inconvenient situation of physical closeness at the same time. This pattern also fits well with the overall deactivating strategy of avoidant individuals (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2002).