Sexuality In Adulthood

Educating Society about Female Sexuality in Late Adulthood
In America, beauty is associated with being young and having flawless skin and no wrinkles. A woman in late adulthood could look in the mirror and sees wrinkles, age spots, bags under her eyes, and sagging breasts; she might think she is not beautiful. What are older women supposed to do? Should they deny their sexuality because American society reveres youth? The youth obsessed American culture creates a stigma against the older adult, especially females since men are perceived as sexier with age. Once a woman can no longer bear children or loses her mate, people might think she becomes asexual. The truth is sexuality continues throughout the life span, but many women accept
This perspective is helpful when analyzing the problem of female sexuality in late adulthood while living in a youth obsessed American culture. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be utilized to examine the needs of females in late adulthood. There are five levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization (Hutchison, 2013). The lower needs are listed first and the higher needs last. The needs to focus on for female sexuality in late adulthood are physiological, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization. Humans have a biological need for sex; the way sexuality is expressed changes over the life course. In addition they have a physiological need to connect with one another; without meaningful connection they become lonely depressed. Esteem needs are divided into self-esteem and respect from others (Goble, 1970). Self-esteem needs are desire for confidence, independence, and freedom (Goble, 1970). Respect from others includes acceptance and appreciation (Goble, 1970). The final need in Maslow’s hierarchy is the self-actualized person; an individual with clarity about her life and has as Goble states “better understanding of self” (1970,
The biological nature of a woman is the individual’s gender and genetics, includes sex hormones, sexual orientation, and sexual health. The assumption is once a woman has a reduced sex drive it means she is not sexual; this is not true. The second factor impacting sexuality is psychosexual. These are the interpersonal relationships, attitudes, and behavior in addition to a person’s social development and life experiences. One woman in the documentary spoke about “the church says do not have sex” a few frames later she says with a smile” all sins are forgiven”. The church can greatly influence psychological attitudes about sexuality. The final factor is how the culture shapes a woman’s attitude about sex. A person growing up during the sexual revolution in the 60s will have a very different sexual attitude than a women growing up in a sexually repressed family of the 50s. The combination of the biological, psychosexual, and cultural influences impacts how a person expresses their