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01-06-2020 | Editorial

Sexual well-being is part of aging well

Authors: Bente Træen, Feliciano Villar

Published in: European Journal of Ageing | Issue 2/2020

Excerpt

An increasing number of people across the Western world are living into old age, with their sexual rights often still neglected or unrecognized (Slagsvold and Strand 2005). An expressed goal of the World Health Organization is to increase sexual health and well-being among the aging population (http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/sexual_health/rhr_hrp_10_22/en/). Sexual well-being is a component of general satisfaction with life and well-being, and the World Association of Sexual Health’s Declaration of Sexual Rights (http://www.worldsexology.org/resources/declaration-of-sexual-rights/) stated that being a sexual being throughout the life span should be considered a fundamental human right. New generations of older adults are likely to place a higher value on their sexual health and rights than previous generations, and society should prepare for this change (Schmidt and Matthiesen 2003; Slagsvold and Strand 2005). This demands new approaches to health prevention and health care. The new generation of older adults is likely to hold a different mentality toward sexuality from that of previous generations (Schmidt and Matthiesen 2003), as well as different gender roles. It should also be noted that the new generations of aging adults may also face greater social expectations about remaining sexually active and normative imperatives linking quality of life and sexual vitality. …

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Title: Sexual well-being is part of aging well
Authors: Bente Træen
Feliciano Villar
Publication date: 01-06-2020
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: European Journal of Ageing / Issue 2/2020
Print ISSN: 1613-9372
Electronic ISSN: 1613-9380
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-020-00551-0

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