COL692 | Cubs Out Loud – The Bear Podcast of Indeterminate Length

Show Topic

Landscape of Relationships: Sex After 50

Welcome to Your 50s!

Lots of people have healthy and active sexual lives at all stages of life. That being said, here are some aspects of your sexuality that MIGHT change.

Sexual Health

“The World Health Organization defines sexual health as a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.”

Regular doctors visits; talk to your doctor about your sexual health; bring a list of questions/comments/concerns helps

Colonoscopy and prostate cancer screenings

Maintain activity levels

Sexual Desire

We aren’t 16 anymore

Medical conditions, lifestyle, mood, hormone levels, medication

Spontaneous vs responsive desire

Possible adapt a sexual willingness mindframe

Erectile Dysfunction

Age doesn’t cause ED, but natural aging and illness can impact sexual response

ED is a biopsychosocial phenomenon with biological, physical, psychological, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive factors AS WELL AS identity, relationally (interpersonal and socially), and intimate factors.

Erections are not required for ejaculations or orgasms

Talk to your provider. Again, talk to your provider.

Medication and treatment options

Communication

”Adult sex is interpersonal” – McCarthy and Metz

Maintaining sexual intimacy is key; adapting a flexible sexual relationship

Creating

So remember,

Your sexual experience MAY change as you gets older

In this episode of Cubs Out Loud, it’s time for another Landscape of Relationships. Dr. Edward Angelini-Cooke is back as the guys turn the pages on sexual scripts. Follow line by line as Ed and the cubs break down what sexual scripts are, where they come from and what happens when you go “off book.” Editing, improv and flipping the script are not just for the stage anymore!

Show Topic

Landscape of Relationships: Sexual Scripts

What are sexual scripts?

In 1986, researchers William Simon and John H. Gagnon defined sexual scripts as the cultural and societally approved norms that a person accesses, agrees upon, and activates through a sexual socialization process. These sexual scripts are specific to the culture a person is socialized in, which tell them what behaviors, thoughts, emotions are or are not acceptable. People carry these scripts with them into sexual situations and they tell them how to respond. Simon and Gagnon theorized that sexual scripts have three different categories, including socio-cultural, interpersonal, and intrapsychic:

Examples of cultural sexual scripts:

Dating culture
Premarital sex
Monogamy
Dominance and submission
Heteronormative
What else?

Examples of interpersonal sexual scripts:

Flirting/sexual negotiation
Consent/sexual assault
Top/Bottom
What else?

Examples of intrapsychic sexual scripts:

Turn ons
Fantasy
Kinks and fetishes
Pleasure
Sexual Desire
What else?

Quote from Simon & Gagnon (1986)

In the most pragmatic sense, sexual scripts must solve two problems. The first of these is gaining permission from the self to engage in desired forms of sexual behavior. The second problem is that of access to the experiences that the desired behavior is expected to generate.

What happens when we go off script or improvising?