Who among us can’t remember confronting the disquieting notion of our aging parents having sex?  The universal response?  “Ewwwwww!” “Aging,” of course, being a very relative term. As adolescents it’s hard to imagine people over forty relishing each other’s nakedness and taking erotic delight in intimate contact with flesh that may be showing signs of wrinkles and starting to droop here and their. And as the years go by, it gets even worse.

The stigma of perceived loss of attractiveness with increasing age seems deeply ingrained in our youth-obsessed culture.  But those of us who have crossed the threshhold of our fifties – or sixties or more – know how ridiculously ill informed those earlier notions were.

That stigma is nowhere more convincingly and fervently challenged than in Joan Price’s wonderful book, “Naked at Our Age – Talking Out Loud About Senior Sex.”  The author is a prolific writer, blogger, speaker and all-around advocate for healthy sexuality without age limits.  And she has no respect for taboos or the restrictions of polite convention of any kind.  Speak up, she says. Communicate. Don’t be shy.

She did extensive research here, amassing survey data from a large sample of people ranging in age from 50s to 80s, and no punches were pulled. The book is a compelling collection of personal narratives drawn from these surveys, bracketed by professional advice and observations from professionals in the field. Nowhere will you encounter more insightful reading on flagging or mismatched libidos, dealing with divorce, disease, solo sex, sexual toys and aids, dating, sensuality, surrogates …. the list goes on.

Naked at Our Age is really quite a remarkable book, as hard to put down as a well crafted thriller. There is not only something for everyone here, but there is a lot for everyone. Highly recommended.