BARBADOS: Sex among Senior Citizens is still taboo but the reality is ......

. BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (The Nation), September 6, 2008: By Tony Best SEX AMONG SENIOR CITIZENS is still taboo. The reality, however, is that it happens daily. Take for instance one Bajan and his younger bride. He was agile and in his early 90s, able to do 20 to 30 push-ups at a time. Just as important, he was on top of his world riding a bicycle along New York City streets. "He used to put men 40 years his junior to shame when it came to push-ups," said a friend in Brooklyn. "He would challenge you and before you knew it he was on the floor exercising." As his friends told it, he also used to put much younger men to shame in another way: his eye for the ladies, preferably those in their late 30s and early 40s. "He often spoke about his prowess in bed," said a buddy. "The younger the woman, the better." So, it came as something of a surprise when he announced he was getting married to a woman in her early 60s. In addition, she was a relatively quiet person, often in church. There may have been other reasons for the marriage. He wanted a constant companion, who was sexually active – very active. He was also looking for someone who would tend to his other needs in the home. But as she saw it, he was a stable man, perhaps a bit too agile, and as a United States citizen he could sponsor her so she could get an immigration green card. "It wasn't immigration fraud or anything like that. He started going out with her and decided to get married, while she believed he could bring stability to her life," a person familiar with the case explained. What the bride didn't bargain for was his sexual demands. Soon she started complaining to friends about his virility, that he was "wearing me out – sex, sex all the time". Senior sex moments He wasn't exactly ecstatic either. The 92-year-old told a friend that his wife didn't like sex and that was a serious problem. In the end, he announced one day that he was ending the relationship because, as he told her, "you are too old for me", meaning he wanted a younger woman. The two became estranged and it was all because of sex. Not too far away in the city, the story about another couple had a different ending. She was a Bajan centenarian and her "boyfriend" was in his early 80s. Both were residents of a nursing facility for seniors and people with severe disabilities. The two love birds would hold hands and eat meals together; he would push her around in a wheel chair, and often visited her in her room. The staff at the retirement centre and the woman's relatives were amused by it all when they saw them together and wondered what went on when they shared quiet moments together behind closed doors. "Quite frankly, I don't believe there was any sex but then you never know," said a relative. Guess what? While everyone expected her to die first, he was the one to go. In Toronto, love and sex also blossomed in a residential home for seniors. When a nurse absent-mindedly walked into the resident's private room without knocking, they found a woman and her male companion naked in bed, obviously having sex. "The woman became indignant and complained to the administrators that the nurses invaded her privacy," said a staffer who asked not to be identified. Both of them are in their 80s and the chance discovery threw light on some unexplained behaviour. The woman, a widow whose husband had died several years before, had suddenly gone through a metamorphosis. Once dowdy and not too interested in her appearance, she began getting a weekly manicure and pedicure, bought new clothes and had an extra spring in her step. "She would tell us about her active sex life and how much fun she was having with her lover," said a staffer. "We all know what's going on but they are adults, not children." Interestingly enough, she isn't the only woman in the man's life. According to employees, when he isn't with her, he is having fun with another female who lives on a different floor of the home. "We say he is having the time of his life with the two women, going from one to the next on different floors," said a staffer, who laughs every time she talks about the sex lives of the residents. "Trust me, they are enjoying themselves sexually and why not." But they weren't alone. A retiree in his 70s became a devoted user of Viagra, so much so that the Bajan began calling himself the "Viagra man". And like his 92-year-old compatriot, he preferred younger women, especially those in their 20s. But his Viagra-induced sexual activity probably proved too much for his heart. Relatives and friends say he died of a heart attack while in bed with a women who was 50 years younger than he was. © 1997-2008. Nation Publishing Company Limited