SEXUALIDADE E ENVELHECIMENTO FEMININO: PERCEPÇÃO E EXPECTATIVAS

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to get to know the perceptions and expectations of sexuality by women who are in the aging process. As methodology we chose a qualitative approach. The data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire and a semistructured schedule of interviews given to nine women aged between 54 and 86 years, who are participants of a group of close companionship of elderly. The criteria adopted for noninclusion were the presence of alterations in the speech pattern, auditive difficulties and mental disease, all of which would make communication difficult. The data were analyzed by using the thematically analysis technique, a modality of the Content Analysis. The topics were grouped into two core categories: the perception of body and the perception of sexuality. As for the perception of body, some of the women were obviously becoming slaves to the image of youthfulness which represents an esthetic ideal in the social context. Apart from the perception of oneself, the other people s perception of one s body also influences the exercise of one s sexuality. The physiological changes that accompany the aging process may seem pathological, depending on, how they are lived through. On the other hand we noticed that some women, who are aware of the modifications in an aging body, find beauty in these transformations. The partner s support and the possibility of reflexion proportioned to some women by the climacterium are determining factors in this equation. For some women, aging is equivalent to losing beauty, which interferes directly in the exercise of sexuality and leads to the constant wish to retrieve youthfulness. Another strong tendency is the negation of sexuality for old women, and the self-chosen role of a dedicated granny and care-taker, a role which corresponds to the expectation of society. Some of the interviewed, however, reported rich sexual experiences in quest of sexual pleasure. This paper concluded that the perception of sexuality of the elderly women started being developed beginning with their first experiences in the social context and that self-knowledge and legitimating of quest for pleasure enable the elderly women to fully excise her sexuality during the aging process.