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CHENNAI: Denying the joys of sexual intercourse to people over 50, is directly related to the increasing instances of child sexual abuse in the country, says noted sexologist Dr Narayana Reddy. After releasing an extensive study titled ‘Sex and the Aging Indian’, accumulated over two decades, Dr Reddy pointed out that a large number of ‘elderly’ people were denied sex, causing this problem. “It is almost an established train of thought in India that people lose the desire for sexual intercourse as they get older. Not only is this entirely false, it can also have very serious implications,” said Reddy, who is best known for his work at the DEGA Institute here.Comprising responses from 3,021 middle to upper class Indians, from 15 states, the study suggests that the frequency of sexual intercourse in the average Indian household reduces with age, “Agreed, there is a reduction in the drive and need as a person ages but that does not mean that it disappears. This is where we differ from the West, as it is more of a cultural issue in our country,” he explained. The survey shows that a person aged between 50 and 59 was likely to have sex 10 times a month but this number petered down to just once a month as they reached 70; women said that sex was almost non-existent after 65. While erectile dysfunction was the major deterrant for men, the husband’s sexual issues were the top reason that women said they lost access to sex.“I once had an elderly patient complain that even when he wanted to experience pleasure with his wife, his children and grandchildren were in the way. The thought that their parents would want to have sex never even occurred to them,” said Reddy, with disbelief, “Otherwise siblings separate the parents to care for them on a rotation basis,” he added.As a study conducted in 2007 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, UNICEF and others suggested that 69% of India’s 390 million children suffered some form of sexual or physical abuse. As a result of long periods of repression or separation, the older generation’s sexual energy turns toward children and drives up the child sexual abuse quotient, states Reddy. Considering that 7.09% (214 persons) admitted to incest and 5.26% (159 persons) admitted to having had sex with a relative, the notion that the elderly are prudes can be dispensed with. If you’re still not convinced, 47.70 per cent persons admitted to having had pre-marital sex. As the youngest among them is 50 now, we’re talking about pre-marital sex among middle to upper class Indians in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
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