Book Review: Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud About Senior Sex by Joan Price

My review of Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud About Senior Sex by Joan Price was published in the March issue of AASECT’s “Contemporary Sexuality.”  As promised, here it is.
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Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud About Senior Sex. By Price Price. California: Seal Press, 2011. 386 pages.  Paperback, 978-1-58005-338-9, $16.95.

Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud About Senior Sex is Price Price’s follow up to her 2006 Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk about Sex after Sixty. In Price’s words her first book “celebrated the joys of senior sex, and Naked at Our Age aims to help if you are not having great sex” (page 345).  The book accomplishes that and more.

Price has collected stories and anecdotes about sexual experiences from thousands of seniors age 60 and over.  She has sorted these into a wide range of topics including physical functioning, sex toys, desire, self-pleasure, online dating and grief to name a few.  Price notes that her responses were overwhelmingly from heterosexual women.  She does make an effort to include the voice of men and non-heterosexual individuals when submissions were available.

Each chapter covers a topic and includes vignettes describing the challenges, successes and fears seniors face along with comments from Price and responses from experts.  These contributors give useful feedback often with specific suggestions and resources.  Interspersed are sidebars of comments, tips and references on various topics.

The book provides a great deal of information that is useful for people of all ages.  It is, however, refreshing to see it presented in the context of senior sex.  The portion of the information that is senior-specific is extremely practical and helpful. The book is easy to read, direct and underscores how little most people know about sex and the aging process.  Price addresses this directly in two chapters, one for men and one for women, which focus on “unlearning our upbringing.”

This book will be beneficial to therapists and clients alike.  One of the powerful achievements of the book is to normalize senior sex.  For therapists it is a reminder that sex remains an issue to be addressed at all ages.  For seniors it demonstrates that they are not alone – desiring and having sex as a senior is healthy and can be extremely vital and enjoyable. Less obvious target audiences are adult children and caretakers of seniors.  This book will be particularly useful in understanding the importance of sex in creating a fulfilling senior life along with the challenges seniors face.