Read the entire list here.

By Alan Mozes, HealthDay Reporter
Late December wouldn’t be the same without the uplifting sound of holiday choirs, but there’s a unique chorus in New York City called “The Unforgettables,” that’s bringing new harmony to singers and audiences alike.
That’s because the chorus’ 22 members include 11 men and women diagnosed with early to middle-stage dementia, including dementia linked to Alzheimer’s disease, paired up with 11 of their caregivers — a spouse, child or friend. Each practice and recital is an act of togetherness and renewed strength in the face of illness, one of the chorus’ founders said.

Read the rest of this uplifting story here: Chorus Gives Voice to Those with Alzheimers.  How might you be able to apply a similar pairing patients and caregivers related to improving sexual health or policy?

Editor’s Note:  Following is a transcript of the remarks given by Peggy Brick on December 9, 2011 at the CFLE National Sex Ed Conference, in honor of Susie Wilson, recipient of the 2011 Golden Brick Award. This transcript was originally posted on http://www.sexuallysmarter.blogspot.com/ Susie Wilson is a founding member of the Sexuality and Aging Consortium at Widener University.

Susie Wilson, MSEd

Susie Wilson! Visionary! Reformer! Advocate! Catalyst! Sexuality Educator par excellence! What a joy it is for me to celebrate you with the Golden Brick Award, one of many awards recognizing your unique contribution to the sexual health and happiness of adolescents in this confusing society. What a legacy you have created and continue to create!
For thirty-three years you have led us, inspired us, and pushed us to act in behalf of the sexual rights of young people. From that fateful day at a New Jersey Board of Education meeting when you were the only Board Member to ask questions following a research report on pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among New Jersey teens until today when you continue to ask probing questions and promote sexual sanity on your New Jersey Newsroom Blog, you have never stopped. Tireless, determined, unflappable, you have persistently articulated your outrage at the forces that would demean adolescents and deprive them of the education they need. Writing, speaking, organizing, fund-raising, coalition-building, you led the way for thousands of us educators in schools and agencies throughout the state and the nation. You are the model of the multiple roles a leader must play in this seemingly endless battle in behalf of young people of this nation.  Please read the rest of the transcript here:  The 2011 Golden Brick Award, Honoring Susie Wilson

An Interview with Bill Taverner
Sex ed. For many of us that conjures thoughts of the health or gym teacher fumbling through notes on the birds and the bees. The modern variety of sex ed has been much in the news the last few years, as abstinence-only education has received much attention (and many dollars, too).
Sex ed means much more than what adolescents might be learning in school, of course, and this is spurred by a growing realization that we need sexual health information our entire lives. The notion that older people have sex lives isn’t as quaint or as easily dismissed as in years past. The age of Viagra® allows countless men to stand at attention and report for duty even as they qualify for the senior menu at most any chain restaurant. Then there’s the phenomenon of “cougars” – older women hooking up with younger guys – that has such cultural cache it’s spawned everything from television shows to niche online dating sites. The idea that “40 is the new 30” has been stretched to the point that even those in their sixth and seventh decades look, feel, and act “younger” than in generations past.
Those of us who were in sex ed classes in the Carter era and earlier recall that while we talked at length about pregnancy prevention, very little time was spent on sexually transmitted infections (STIs). For fellows in those generations, the sexual horror scenario involved knocking a girl up, not that they might get the clap while doing so. The girls probably felt much the same way. Those of us conditioned to think of condoms primarily as birth control, then, might find it easy to ditch what we called the “rubber insurance policy” as anxieties over unwanted pregnancy fade.
And what of sexuality issues beyond anatomy and physiology of doing the deed? Body image and relationship quality are also important. That’s a lot to deal with!
Bill Taverner, Director of the Center for Family Life Education, recently spoke with HPV News and shared his thoughts on the evolving world of sex ed, including the way we educate those in mid-life and beyond. The Center for Family Life Education (part of one of the very top Planned Parenthoods in the country) will host its 26th annual SEX ED conference on December 7-9 in Somerset, NJ. Themed “Sex Ed Through the Lifespan,” the conference will feature four expert keynote speakers, an array of 42 concurrent workshops accepted through peer review, and a screening of the documentary film “Let’s Talk about Sex”.
Thinking about the theme of this year’s conference, Sex ed throughout the lifespan, how do we talk to people in their 40s, 50s, and beyond about sex. What is it we need to offer them?
Not all adults understand that their sexuality changes as they grow older. Their bodies change, their sexual response changes, their relationships often change, as may their attitudes and values. Changes are often addressed through a “problem lens,” with pharmaceuticals as the solution. So older adults are expecting their bodies to perform as they did when they were 18. The changes are not only physical, but also emotional and relational. The needs one may have had from a partner in their 20s may not be the same as the needs they have in their 40s, 50s, or beyond.
Adults need opportunities to re-evaluate a lifetime of formal and informal sexual learning for how it fits within their current lives, and determine which is helpful, and discard that which is not helpful. Peggy Brick, lead author of Older, Wiser, Sexually Smarter, will lead this discussion in her keynote on helping adults form new expectations of their changing bodies and lives.
We’re still squeamish when it comes to talking about S-E-X, right? It even impacts our ability to have important discussions with health care providers! How do we make this a normal, relaxed topic of discussion?
Robie Harris, our opening keynote speaker, is the author of perhaps the most authoritative children’s book on sex, It’s Perfectly Normal. This is a book that has been translated into many languages, and I came across the Swedish version when I visited Stockholm last year. The Swedish title, På Tal Om Sex, bore little resemblance to the American title, so I asked the librarian about it. She told me the title meant “Speaking of Sex”. This spoke volumes of the differences in how Americans and Sweden — and many other developed nations treat the subject of sex. Swedes need no convincing that sex is perfectly normal! The title only works in the United States!
It’s a byproduct of decades of societal and cultural learning. Unlike many Western European nations, America has not prioritized honest communication about sexuality on television, in print, in social media campaigns. Two decades of $1.5 billion in federal abstinence-only funds —- in a country where 70% of teens stop abstaining by the time they finish high school — means that we as a nation have a lot of catching up to do. Highly-trained sexuality educators — such as Planned Parenthood educators and other professionals who attend our conference — can be a great support for young people to have not only accurate information, but better efficacy and the skills to make healthy sexual decisions.
There’s so much to address in sex ed: sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancy, health relationships. How do you cover it all without people – especially school-age audiences – tuning out?
The tiny amount of time teachers are given for these important topics often forces them to use boring, didactic teaching techniques. That is why The CFLE develops teaching manuals that use highly interactive, engaging strategies. One such resource, coming out in January, is titled Game On! and has 20 such strategies for creating a fun, memorable learning experience that really sticks with the student. It’s important to reach students in meaningful ways so they retain important learning, and feel empowered with the skills needed to make healthy decisions.
Talk about trends in teaching sexual education to teens. How are our approaches changing?
Earlier this week, the New York Times Magazine posted an article that featured an educator who is doing an outstanding job teaching a sex education program at a private Quaker school. The teacher, Al Vernacchio, was a speaker at our conference last year, and will present the workshop “You’re Out, Baseball!” at this year’s conference.
His program was unique in that it is so positive, honest, and complete! It is also not the norm. While Mr. Vernacchio’s program runs six weeks, most American teachers are allowed only a few class periods. Depending on the state and school district, these lessons may be devoted to preaching abstinence as the only acceptable choice, or, if the program is permitted to address prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, they rarely venture beyond these subjects into other important, healthy aspects of sexuality. Important elements include healthy and unhealthy relationships, gender and sexual orientation, intimacy body image, and much more.
There are some positive trends, for example new, first-time federal funding for evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs. While these programs fall short of complete, age-appropriate sex ed, the new funding is encouraging after two decades of funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs (AOUM). Still, it is disappointing that federal funding for AOUM persists, despite substantial research that they provide misleading, inaccurate, and harmful information.
Sex ed is also needed beyond the high school years, especially when the curricula are woefully inadequate in the high schools. Many of our conference attendees teach adults – from college students in their 20s to senior citizens. That’s why we adopted a theme of Sex Ed Through the Lifespan. For more go to: The CFLE’s Sex Ed Conference.

I don’t often write poetry; most of my writing involves workshops, lectures, and lesson plans. Once in a while, though, I am moved to write a poem. I wrote this one in 2006, and it wasn’t until I re-read it recently that I realized how closely it suits my current work in sexuality and aging.  I offer it to you in hopes of inspiring you to reflect on your own maturing sexual nature.

Kissing You

I don’t remember where we first kissed,
but I remember the way you smelled of Dove soap
and tasted of red wine and apples.

I remember the way I struggled to keep my distance
before giving in and pressing my body into yours
and how it took my breath away to melt into you so easily,
my mouth to yours, my chest to yours, our hips, our hips, our thighs.

I don’t remember when we first kissed,
but I remember it was fall, and the leaves skimmed around our feet
and you lifted me up just a bit before setting me down
and whispering into my hair, “I found you.”

I remember that when you kissed me this morning,
you didn’t take my breath away, and you didn’t taste of red wine,
and you didn’t lift me off my feet.
But you still smelled of Dove soap,
and our bodies pressed into each other with yearning,
and my heart sang.

@2006 Melanie J. Davis. All rights reserved.  www.honestexchange.com

1. Lonnie Barbach – Lonnie was the keynote speaker for our fall professional development conference. After flying across the country at her own expense, she presented an inspiring program on “Sex After 50,” participated in our Consortium Visioning session, and delivered a valuable follow-up report.
2. Carol Cassell – Carol wrote personalized financial appeal letters to every Advisory Board member. It’s not easy to ask for contributions, and we welcomed her help.
3. Carol Cobb-Nettleton –  Carol delivered a very effective workshop at the fall Conference titled, “Intimacy and Chronic Disease.”
4. Eli Coleman – Eli traveled to Pennsylvania to attend a sexuality education retreat and explain the role of the World Association of Sexuality. He also offers quick responses to my many questions as we venture forward on our mission-driven Consortium projects.
5. Robin Dessel – Robin was the primary presenter at our first Training of Trainers. She provided a birds-eye view of how the Hebrew Home for the Aged created and implemented the country’s first sexual rights policy for an assisted living facility.
6. Gayle Doll – Gayle is a wonder resource for me and the Consortium members regarding long-term car issues. She has shared her research and her Powerpoints, and she has made herself available to present a full-day workshop. She has also written a ground-breaking book, Sexuality & Long-Term Care: Understanding and Supporting the Needs of Older Adults, for which I was honored to write the foreword.
7. Beryl Goldman – Beryl, through Kendal Outreach, has co-sponsored the Consortium’s Training of Trainers and conference. She also presented a conference workshop on long-term care and attending our Consortium Visioning session.
8. Patricia Barthalow Koch – Pat conducted the first-ever research on impact of sexuality education for older adults, interviewing me and my Older, Wiser, Sexually Smarter students.  She presented some of her research findings in a Consortium conference workshop titled, “What We Can Learn about Sex from Older People.”
9. Peter Lichtenberg – Peter regularly provides resources and advice regarding issues of sexual consent and aging.
10. Bill Stayton — Bill is helping with the important work of identifying possible contributors.
11. Leonore Tiefer – Leonore is our primary resource on issues related to impact of pharmaceuticals on older women; she is also a resource for issues related to the potentially dangerous trend in costmetic labiaplasty.
12. Beverly Whipple – Beverly provides frequent advice regarding female sexuality, based on her unparalleled experimental research.

We will continue reporting the contributions of these Advisory Board members and others in future posts.
We are eternally grateful for all of the support we have received and continue to receive from our Advisory Board.
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.
Peggy

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Congratulations, Joan!  Read her blog here.   To see all 100 top-ranked blogs, click here

Recently, I lost a good friend, Clyde Miller, MD (psychiatry), who spent much of his professional life campaigning for the sexual rights of older adults. He was 93 – and still seeing patients – when he died. His wife graciously gave me his professional scrap book of articles and notes about sex and aging, hoping that I and my colleagues might build on his work and research.

As I meandered through the pages of loose papers, I stumbled upon a UPI press release from a presentation about the challenges of older adults in residential communities – and sexual expression. I was certain that it had been written recently as it directly reflected many of the issues and challenges for older adults that we address every day. Here’s a sampling of concerns. Recognize these issues?

• Middle aged children with prudish attitudes make sex after 60 difficult if not impossible for parents confined to nursing homes.
• Many adult children in their 40s consider sex “immoral” for their parents. Why? Older people don’t do “that”; embarrassment that parents are still sexual beings;  fear of losing inheritance; concern that older adults suffer from inability to make their own personal choices.
• Some SNFs have created “recreation rooms” for sexual privacy – and then had to dismantle them because the financially responsible adult (adult child, conservator, or attorney) objected.
• Seniors (in communities without policies supporting sexuality) become so fearful of repercussions that it affects their already fragile concern about performance and attractiveness. In turn, this affects their desire and ability.

The “widow and widower” syndrome occurs when older adults have gone without sex for so long that the first sexual experience is often accompanied by enormous anxiety that makes a sexual encounter almost impossible. Staff in communities who are unaware of the fear exacerbate the situation with lack of support and negative attitude.

The presenter’s advice to staff and seniors about sex? Use it or lose it! Late in life adults are sexual beings from birth to death and have every right to express their sexuality. In fact, “physiological changes that come with aging do not necessarily alter desire or ability”.

The speaker? The pioneer of a burgeoning new field – sexual response research, Dr. William Masters.  The date? June 24, 1983. The audience? The Sixth World Congress of Sexology.

Last week, I was honored to facilitate a workshop at the Sarnat Symposium for professionals at the Los Angeles Jewish Home, discussing sexuality and aging. When I asked the professionals in the room about the hurdles to sexual freedom for older adults, their answers echoed Dr. Masters observations 28 years ago!

The field of sex education has come a long way in the last 28 years, since Dr. Masters suggested that we pay attention to the sexual rights of older adults. We still have a long journey ahead of us. Our mission as professional sex educators is to be sure that 28 years from now, we (and the new crop of senior sexuality educators) can honestly say that “times have changed” – and seniors are enjoying the support and positive encouragement of staff in residential communities, including policies that support sexuality in residents. Let this voice from the past function as a reminder that we have serious work to do. Let’s go forward with renewed dedication to the sexual freedom of our aging population.