FEMALE SEXUAL CHANGES AFTER 50
"Hear Me Roar!"
As we approach the topic of female sexual changes that occur with aging, we're reminded of some lines of the Helen Reddy song that became somewhat of a feminist manifesto in the 1970s:
I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore . . .
You can bend but never break me
'Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
Oh yes, I am wise
But it s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I've gained
By the year 2030, 1.2 billion women in the world are expected to be age fifty or older. During the 1990s, approximately 24.5 million women worldwide reached menopause each year. In the U.S. and Canada alone, approximately 4,000 women reach menopause every day. These numbers really are too big to ignore.
But what's the roar? That depends on the woman. Some women will respond with growth as they face the adversity of life, using the challenges presented by physical changes to gain the "wisdom born of pain" and develop a healthier new identity. For others the roar may represent their frustration, complaints, resentments, and losses as they unsuccessfully battle the aging process.
The key word that describes the shift in sexual function for women at midlife is change. A woman may experience her sexual desire subsiding or she may find desire increases. As a result, her frequency of sexual activity may increase or decrease. She may also experience an increase or a decrease in the sensitivity of her clitoris, and her sexual responsiveness may also go up or down. A wife may find that she experiences fewer orgasms and with unpredictable intensity, or she may realize an increase in orgasms and a sexual awakening.2 It is impossible to foresee how an individual woman will experience midlife sexual changes, but we can predict that what was normal before may not be now. Many women will not experience a decrease in sexual desire during menopause, but when they do it is often due to hormonal imbalances, negative thinking, relational problems, or other stressors. The sexual changes in women may be less noticeable, but they are more variable and complex than the changes in men. This chapter will address female sexual changes that can occur from midlife onward, and in the next chapter we will focus more on the hormonal changes of menopause and how sexual response may be impacted accordingly.
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