The Little Brothers of the Poor published their seventh annual report at the beginning of October, devoted to the affective, intimate and sexual life of the elderly. Love has no age, this is what the results of this report show.
The feeling of love would dull with age. A misconception, since 94% of older people say they are in love with their partner. Clichés also want old couples to have nothing more to say to each other and not too many reasons to communicate with each other. However, for our elders, the main thing in the couple is complicity, laughter and confidences.
Another taboo subject: the body. In our society, which easily exposes the beauty of bodies, those of elders are considered undesirable. However, 71% of the elderly people questioned find that an aging body can remain desirable, a large majority of us think that, after a certain age, emotional and sexual life no longer exists. However, one in two older people say they have intimate relationships and 91% are satisfied with them.
Start a new life when one is old is sometimes unthinkable for relatives. And yet, for one out of two elderly people living alone, convivial places are popular for meeting people.
What the Little Brothers of the Poor denounce through annual reports: “It’s breaking the clichés to fight against the isolation of our elders. If these results are reassuring in a society that imposes invisibility on our elders, it remains urgent to respond humanely to the challenges of aging through a change in general outlook. towards them”.
A situation that affects especially the oldest: the switch to “old age” being a major factor of upheaval in the course of the couple and risk of isolation.
The Little Brothers of the Poor are also launching an awareness campaign and season 1 of their podcast “Not Even Dead” to break taboos on love and the sex life of the elderly.
To break taboos even more, a parade that brings together young and old will take place on October 27, 2022, at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. It will honor the links between generations and show that beauty has no age!
The Facebook page of the Little Brothers of the Poor
Podcast “Getting old”, Oldyssey