Old but NOT cold
Elderly Jamaicans list little or no sex among the challenges of ageing in Jamaica
ELDERLY JAMAICANS have listed being ill-treated by the younger generation, and little or no sex, among the major issues, which makes life challenging for the senior citizens in the island.
A recent study by the director of monitoring, evaluation and research at the National Family Planning Board, Dr Tazhmoye Crawford, also found a fear of death and the concern that life could take a toll on their health and finances as they get older, among the major worries of the elderly.
The fear of being lonely due to the death of a spouse or children leaving, learning how to adapt to the fast-changing world of technology, and the long waiting time at public-health care facilities were also listed as concerns by the elderly.
But it was the findings of sex which raised the most eyebrows in the study dubbed ‘Life after Three Scores and Ten in Jamaica: A Phenomenological Analysis’.
The study focused on persons between the ages of 78 and 104 and explored issues that impact them on a physiological, physical, psychological, social, educational, and economical level.
But Crawford noted that given the small sample size, generalisation on the matter was not able to be made.
“However, the sample scope is in keeping with the prescription for qualitative sample size,” said Crawford.
The 10 males and females interviewed all shared concerns that they have not been able to openly express matters of sexual nature, even jokingly, without younger people frowning and giggling. ‘OLD PEOPLE DESIRE SEX TOO’
“Anything of sexual nature coming from the elderly is like a joke. People don’t see the elderly in that light, people see sex for young people and the able-bodied, it’s the way our culture is, that’s why we need a cultural reform to accommodate persons of this community,” said Crawford.
The study noted that the elderly females’ views on sex were different than the males, and the upper and persons in the middle class felt at ease talking about sex more than the lower class.
Some of the females expressed enjoying sex better than when they were younger; however, the males were engaging less in the sexual activity mostly due to erectile dysfunction.
But one 86-year-old man reported getting his 40-year-old girlfriend pregnant. He said this did not go down well with his family to the point where they no longer communicate.
“His children and grandchildren treated it with disdain, he felt emasculated,” said Crawford.
The majority of the persons in the study were affected with diabetes and hypertension and said they have made efforts to keep healthy by walking and running errands.
“One of the positives coming out of them making a conscious effort to exercise, courtesy of the Jamaica Moves initiative, was that they saw improvements in their health,” said Crawford.
As it relates to education, the elderly were able to pursue studies after retirement, even though persons in their classes referred to them as old.
They argued that their physicians, pastors, or even their workplaces could have prepared them more for ageing as it relates to the changes they are experiencing, especially as it relates to the link between sex and chronic illnesses.
“Any decline in health that may frighten them or cause them to go to the doctor and spend money unnecessarily, had they known that these are the things that they should be expecting, then they would not be wasting money that they don’t have,” said Crawford.