posted by admin on Mar 11
In this way, conflicts arise between old people and their children, already middle aged and often enmeshed in their own problems.
The old person believes he is being neglected, when filial duty should ensure that he is supported. The middle-aged son resents the demands his father places on him, but at the same time respects him and feels he has a duty to help him. This ambivalence may cause antagonism and misunderstanding, particularly in what are considered to be sensitive areas of behaviour, such as sexuality.
It is astonishing that, until recently, old people were neither expected to ‘indulge’ in sex, nor to enjoy their sexuality. Many undoubtedly did but, fearful of being condemned by a censorious society, they kept quiet about it. Kinsey and his successors brushed away these absurd attitudes and it is now known that many people over 65 enjoy sexual activity. In a careful study, Dr Pfieffer and his colleagues in Duke University, North Carolina, found that 70 per cent of men over the age of 65 were having regular and enjoyable intercourse, and by the age of 80, 15 per cent were still active sexually. Those men who had enjoyed frequent sex when younger were more likely to continue enjoying sex in old age, while those people who, in youth, had been inhibited about their sexuality were more likely to avoid sex as they grew older. Age eliminates neither the need, the capacity, nor the enjoyment of sex, unless illness intervenes. Age itself does not cause impotence, but anxiety about one’s performance, conditioned by the myth that age will affect one’s ability to perform, can inhibit an erection. Abstinence from sex is also a factor in impotence. This has been called the ‘use it or lose it syndrome’! Sex is healthy, and whatever your age, you hardly ever need to avoid sex – unless you want to.
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posted by admin on Mar 11
Although most homosexuals live with a relatively permanent partner, a number of homosexual men have transient, ‘one-night stand’ relationships. As the number of sexual partners increases, so does the chance of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease. Reports from England and the U.S.A. indicate that both gonorrhoea and syphilis are increasing among homosexuals and heterosexuals. Over 50 per cent of heterosexual women infected with gonorrhoea have no signs or symptoms, and the women constitute a ‘hidden reservoir’ of infection so that the disease is spreading among heterosexual men. It is now evident that among homosexual men, gonorrhoea of the throat (following fellatio with an infected partner) or of the anal canal is often symptomless and, because of the transience of some homosexual relationships, the spread of gonorrhoea is increasing.
Syphilis is also increasing, although to a much lesser extent than gonorrhoea. What is disturbing, according to reports from the U.S.A., is that a homosexual man with syphilis names, on average, ten contacts, while a heterosexual man or woman with syphilis names four. This makes control of the disease much more difficult.
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posted by admin on Mar 11
Luckily, there is an effective treatment for each of the sexually transmitted diseases, which will give a complete cure – provided you follow the treatment properly.
Why has there been such an increase in the number of people infected by the sexually transmitted diseases in recent years? Why are so many young people, particularly women, becoming infected?
The first reason is that there is now an increasing sexual permissiveness. If a person only had sexual intercourse with a single partner it would be possible to eradicate the diseases. This situation has never existed. In the past there was a double standard of sexuality. Young men were expected (if not encouraged) to ‘sow a few wild oats’. In other words, to have sexual experiences before they settled down. Young women, by contrast, were expected to have no experience and to be virgins at marriage. After marriage, men could continue to have sex with other women, but wives were expected to remain sexually faithful to their husbands.
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posted by admin on Mar 11
There are several degrees of severity of premature ejaculation, and all can be cured. In the most severe form, which is also the most frustrating to the woman, the man ejaculates as soon as his naked penis is touched, and may even ejaculate in response to the stimulus of looking at photographs of naked women. Luckily, this pattern is unusual. In less severe forms the man ejaculates during foreplay. In most cases, however, premature ejaculation only occurs when the man inserts his penis into his partner’s vagina, or after a few thrusts within her vagina.
The first scenario is that the man tries to correct his problem himself. In his mind, to seek help from another person would force him to admit he was not a good lover and would diminish his image of himself as a man. So instead of seeking help, he tries home remedies in an attempt to delay his ejaculatory response. During sexual pleasuring he tries to disassociate his mind from the sexual activity. He concentrates on what happened during the day at work, the events of a recent holiday, a film or television programme he has seen, or a book he has read, or he may try to do complicated mathematical problems. But he usually finds that the strategies fail to stop him from coming. Then he tries to use physical pain to distract his mind from his problem. He bites his cheek, he pinches himself, he contracts the muscles around his anus in an attempt to delay his urge to ejaculate.
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posted by admin on Mar 11
However, if a man’s sperm count is more than five million (averaging the three tests), and his FSH level is normal, treatment may improve his sperm count, and the quality of his sperm, sufficiently to enable him to become a father. In these cases, the doctor may decide it is advisable to take a biopsy of his testis. A small incision is made, under local anaesthesia, into his scrotum and then into his testicles, to obtain a tiny piece of tissue. The tissue is examined with a microscope to determine whether spermatozoa are being formed properly and how mature they have become.
In some cases of subfertility, the man is found to have varicose veins surrounding one or both of his vas deferens, where his scrotum is attached to his body. Surgery, to cure the varicose veins, is usually followed by an increase in his sperm count and he has a 50 per cent chance of fathering a child.
The only subfertile men whose sperm counts may increase if drugs are used are those men whose count is more than five million sperms per millilitre, whose FSH levels are normal, and who have no varicose veins in their scrotum. This small group of subfertile men are being treated with a drug called clomiphene, in carefully observed trials. As spermatozoa take about eighty days to become mature the drug has to be given for at least this length of time if improvement in the man’s sperm count is to be achieved.
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