Hot Topics Volume 1, Issue 1: May 2002

Welcome to the premier issue of Hot Topics, the newsletter from www.smartsextalk.com (formerly www.drpegaren.com). As early subscribers, you will have the opportunity to have your input help shape what this newsletter - and the site - will become.

My editor and I know that we want to provide our readership with news items, editorials, and commentaries on current issues. We will offer a non-judgmental approach to these topics, and welcome readers from all different backgrounds. We recognize the need for sex-related information that is neither smutty nor sterile and is inclusive of a wide variety of experiences. Beyond those basic points, this is a blank slate - and we want your input! We invite you to send your suggestions, your questions, and your comments to us at editor@smartsextalk.com.

**Please note: Let us know whether or not you want your mail to be published. We will NEVER publish your mail or identity without your permission. You may send mail anonymously, but if you do not wish it to be reprinted, you must say so. We want you to feel safe to write - please address any questions about our confidentiality policies to editor@smartsextalk.com.

Let me begin this issue by telling you a story about how a few chance comments opened a door to an opportunity I might have otherwise missed, and provided a host of people a service previously unavailable to them. It is, I suppose, a lesson in the value of listening carefully and being willing to take a few risks.

For several years now, I've been teaching a course on female sexualities at a major university. Although there are always a few 'mature students', most of the class is made up of twenty-something women. Invariably, each semester, a few of these young women will bemoan the fact that they have made it to the age of twenty (!) without access to such valuable information. I agree with them that sex education should be - but rarely is - as much a part of school as social studies or Phys. Ed, and remind them that most of us never get enough accurate, non-judgmental, and sex-positive knowledge, regardless how old we get. Their comments got me to thinking: "If my class was filling the needs of these young women, then who was addressing those of older folks, those born closer to the repressive Victorian era?" Lacking adequate sex education as youngsters, becoming adults in an atmosphere of sexual silence, and now growing old in a youth-oriented and ageist society, seniors, especially, must feel left out of the sexual loop. Where could they find the information they need to address how aging (and the health issues that accompany it) affect them? Why not design a course targeted to seniors? Would anyone care? Would anyone come?

I took my idea to the university, where the Seniors department agreed to give it a try. The first course ran for six weeks. Students needed to be at least sixty to enrol, and their ages ranged from mid-fifty (one student lied about her age) to 89. There were equal numbers of men and women. Some were eager right from the start, while others were initially tentative. It took no time, however, before the whole class became animated and enthusiastic, giddy on the fun of saying naughty words, relieved to know they needn't give up sex because of their age, and delighted to share their knowledge and questions with others. Who knew it would be so much fun? Who knew how important it would prove to be?

A routine press release from the university sparked a flurry of media interest. It seems I had struck a nerve, and newspapers, radio stations, and television programs in Canada and the United States interviewed me about sex and aging. I continue to receive letters from seniors asking how they, too, can access this information. Happily, Simon Fraser University will be offering the course on a regular basis.

But, as with my Women's Studies students, this meets the needs of only a few. If you would like to know more about the effects of aging on sexuality (or sex on aging!), use this newsletter to ask questions, tell stories, or generate discussions. Let us know what you'd like to see here. I feel fortunate that my course has helped to demystify the subject of sex and aging. As the Boomers age, emboldened by the sexual revolution of the sixties and powered by sheer numbers, they will surely demand solid information about health, social, and interpersonal aspects of growing older.

What other topics are we silent about?

What other areas of sexuality are inadequately addressed?

Is there a question that you would like to ask?

Please do so. Let's work together to generate a flow of knowledge, to create a community where we feel involved and safe enough to discuss all aspects of ourselves as sexual beings.

- Pega Ren

Copyright 2002. Dr. Pega Ren. All Rights Reserved.