While no one really wants to think of his or her grandparents (or parents, for that matter) having sex, they probably are. Americans age 57 to 85 are having sex two or three times a month. But many of them aren't using condoms. Which almost kind-of, sort of seems like it might be okay, right? Not right, according to this LA Times article that follows Jane Fowler, a 72-year-old woman who was infected with HIV in her 50's, as she educates older Americans about STDs:
"I had lived what I considered a conventional, traditional life. I had been a virgin on my wedding night in 1959," said Fowler, a founder of the National Assn. on HIV Over Fifty, who now coordinates the speakers bureau at a local AIDS organization. She has spoken before hundreds of groups over the years, including medical researchers and HIV/AIDS advocates to senior centers.
"I remained monogamous for 23 years of marriage. . . . After the divorce, I didn't consider myself promiscuous. I didn't frequent the singles bars. I went out with men my age who, like me, had been married and were divorced."
Her own physician, she said, dismissed her questions about getting tested for HIV as unnecessary for someone her age. Her early symptoms were dismissed as routine ailments of aging.