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5 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Redefining sex in marital or other long-term relationships. |
task 1 In new relationships, sex is often passionate and intense and may be the central focus. But in long-term marital or cohabiting relationships, the passionate intensity associated with sex is often eroded by habituation, competing parental and work obligations, fatigue, and unresolved conflicts. Sex may need to be redefined as a form of intimacy and caring. Individuals may also need to decide how to deal with the possibility, reality, and meaning of extramarital or extrarelational affairs. |
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Reevaluating sexuality. |
task 2 Single men and women may need to weigh the costs and benefits of sex in casual or lightly committed relationships. In long-term relationships, sexuality often becomes less central to relationship satisfaction. Nonsexual elements such as communication, intimacy, and shared interests and activities become increasingly important to relationships. Women who have deferred their childbearing begin to reappraise their decision: Should they remain child-free, “race” against their biological clocks, or adopt a child? |
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Task 3 Accepting the biological aging process. |
As we age, our skin wrinkles, our flesh sags, our hair grays (or falls out), our vision blurs—and we become less attractive and less sexual in the eyes of society. By our 40s, our physiological responses have begun to slow noticeably. By our 50s, society begins to “neuter” us, especially if we are women who have gone through menopause. The challenges of aging are to accept its biological mandate and to reject the stereotypes associated with it. |
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Changing sexuality. |
Task 1 As physical abilities change with age, sexual responses change as well. A 70-year-old person, although still sexual, is not sexual in the same manner as an 18-year-old. Sexuality tends to be more diffuse, less genital, and less insistent. Chronic illness and increasing frailty understandably result in diminished sexual activity and desire. These considerations contribute to the ongoing evolution of the individual’s sexual philosophy. |
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Task 2 Loss of partner. |
One of the most critical life events is the loss of a partner. After age 60, there is a significant increase in spousal deaths. As having a partner is the single most important factor determining an older person’s sexual interactions, the death of a partner signals a dramatic change in the survivor’s sexual interactions. |
