Personas mayores y sexualidad. Relatos y experiencias del taller “Con la sexualidad nunca se baja el telón”, Valparaíso

Abstract

Sexuality is linked to older people as an emerging topic from social gerontology. The association between the decline of sexual activity as we age, as well as the loss of sexual desire are beliefs rooted in the imaginary that are not conditioned by scientific evidence, which indicates that older people can be sexually active, experiencing and valuing various practices around sexuality. However, the approach to sexuality is complex. Both, in content and methodological level, the cinema is constituted as a facilitating tool for the awareness and exploration of the subject. The article presents the results around an applied investigation, carried out during the year 2018 in the city of Valparaiso, Chile. The participants were elderly people, convened by the senior citizen communal office of Valparaiso’s City Hall, who participated in three meetings of the workshop; with sexuality never lowers the curtain. The techniques of production and analysis of information were the collective interview and the workshop, and the analysis of categorical content. The results demonstrate different meanings about sexuality for men and women. While women recognize their sexuality from their life trajectories, where the expression of affection is the center of the intercourse; men refer to a need for transition, aimed at breaking barriers to freely exercise sexuality, related to performance. The gender distinctions associated with the trajectories of life, the projection of the approach to sexuality in public policy matters and the value of cinema, as a tool that challenges and sensitizes the approach to poorly explored topics are discussed in this article.