Sex talk for seniors
Researchers are asking women aged 55 to 84 to share their sexual experiences for a new study on ageing and sexual wellbeing
UNE sociologist Dr Gail Hawkes is co-leading an investigation into the sexual wellbeing of older women
By Natasha Egan
Australian women who came of age in the ‘swinging 60s’ are being called upon to talk about sex for a study on ageing and sexual wellbeing.
The University of New England (UNE) collaborative study is asking women aged between 55 and 86 to get in touch and share their experiences.
The researchers hope to use participants’ accounts to create a new model for people to follow as they age.
Young women in the 60s often had a different experience of sexuality to their mothers but they don’t have a model of growing older that differs to the one their mothers had, said Dr Gail Hawkes, a UNE sociologist and one of three chief investigators on the project.
“Without a model people tend to be a little bit lost,” Dr Hawkes said.
It helps people know what is acceptable to say and in this instance will assist women, and men, with talking about their sexuality as they get older, she said.
The project was borne out of current representations of older women, such as birthday cards, which are often very negative and depict ageing as ugly, Dr Hawkes said.
“The project is aimed at providing positive images of growing older for present and future generations of women and men,” she said.
Dr Hawkes described the study as her pet-project, for which she is the prototype because of her age. Dr Hawkes is 66.
The collaboration also involves the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University and is funded by the Australian Research Council.
Get Involved
There are two ways participants can get involved in the study and sexual engagement, past or present, is not a criteria.
Selected participants in New South Wales and Victoria will undergo a 60- to- 90-miunte interview featuring images depicting ageing in conjunction with open-ended questions about their experiences and feelings on ageing and wellbeing.
“How does it feel to turn 60 when you’re the product of the “swinging ‘60s?”, is one of the four questions on the agenda, Dr Hawkes said.
Others questions will canvass whether the subject thinks of themselves as a sexual being; how they feel when they look in the mirror; and how that feeling compares to when they were young.
The researchers will also gather information from participants around the country via social media and a blog (see below) using the same images and focus questions, with a new topic posted every month for participants to comment on.
All women in the age group are invited to participate, regardless of whether they live at home or in a care facility.
Dr Hawkes said she hopes the project will lead to giving women a voice, who by their own admission haven’t had a voice to talk about this before, and also that it results in women feeling more confident as they grow older.
The researchers also hope the papers they write up will lead to the preparation of booklets for public health outlets so future generation will be challenged to think differently about the process of getting older.
Feeling positive about getting older is good for your health, Dr Hawkes said.
“It makes women and men whose ageing body has not been expressed in a positive way feel differently about getting older because we have control about how we’re feeling.”
See the project’s Sexual Wellbeing and Ageing blog for more information. All women are invited to contact Dr Gail Hawkes on 02 6773 2277 or on ghawkes@une.edu.au to express their interest.
