Describe issues of sexuality and aging, especially factors that affect sexual satisfaction in the later years.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Female Issues with Desire: Although men and women alike continue to find satisfaction in sex as they grow older, aging affects the sexual lives of heterosexual women earlier and more adversely than it affects heterosexual men.
Female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) is the inability to attain or maintain sexual excitement, expressed as a lack of subjective excitement or as a lack of genital lubrication or swelling or other physical responses. Another disorder, female sexual desire disorder (FSDD), is the persistent inability to achieve fulfilling sexual activity, or to maintain a level of sexual desire that the individual woman feels comfortable with. Typically this disorder occurs after age 25 but the symptoms vary greatly among individuals.
In part FSDD is a function of biology, and in part it stems from psychosocial and cultural beliefs and practices. Many women who experience FSDD for 6 months or more may benefit from medical and therapeutic support.
In menopause the ovaries stop releasing eggs and producing hormones. Some women may experience certain cognitive and psychosocial changes, including mood swings. Psychologically, they may also experience a sense of loss or even depression with the knowledge that they are no longer fertile.
Some women may experience vulvo-vaginal atrophy, generally as a consequence of menopause and the body's declining level of estrogen. If intercourse hurts because of this atrophy, women's interest in intercourse will decline.
Male Issues with Arousal: The possibility of lifelong sex for men now exists not only due to changing attitudes surrounding sex but also because of sexual enhancement medications such as Viagra, Cialis, and other pharmaceuticals aimed toward helping men achieve and maintain erections.
Erectile dysfunction (ED) is increasingly common as men live longer and health issues may influence their sexual performance. Sexual well-being and performance from midlife until old age are associated with a variety of issues including a decline in arousal and the use of pharmaceutical medications to enhance arousal.