Slate's Geezer Issue One Year Later: Naughty Nursing Homes: Is it time to let the elderly have more sex?

Sure, the elderly have rights too. (NOT!) With the plethora of diseases out there corrupting the older generation’s minds, it’s a mystery why we still don’t just isolate everyone above seventy in jail cells – the nursing homes themselves might as well be prisons. That way, at least we could make sure we tame their vivacious sex drives.

Engber tastefully describes in "Naughty Nursing Homes" a typical nursing home bedroom as containing “narrow mattresses with very little privacy” in which “nurses enter […] without knocking.” And he couldn’t be more on target. Nursing home residents should be treated as prisoners simply because it’s essential that we keep an eye out for inappropriate, intimate relations between them. Right?

Where do we draw the sticky line when it comes to this type of behavior? How do we really know that the aging are fully alert and aware of the decisions they make? The sex dilemma in nursing homes is one that society hasn’t resolved quite yet. With the massive litigation war going on out there, nursing home staff are justly “queasy about sexual expression” because “they’re afraid of getting sued.” So now may prove the opportune time to change our policies and our minds about what we deem as appropriate behavior for the elderly…

I’m not quite certain when it became the norm to stereotype and categorize all elderly people, but Engel makes an interesting stab at underlining the lack of power elderly are bound to feel when confined to the boundaries of a nursing home. Maybe it is time to reevaluate the prospects we face as we grow older. I’m interested in how our current system of caring for the elderly could truly be improved to give our aging population a greater sense of accomplishment, self-worth, and happiness throughout their final years.