The survival of any species is predicated on two basic elements: live and leave behind. Every member of a species has the obligation to contribute to the survival of the species by surviving long enough (live) to procreate (leave behind). In our species the Homo sapiens, we survive through basic needs and procreate through intercourse. This guarantees it as a basic need for the species and therefore a notorious topic of discussion despite taboo and/or religious doctrine and cultural limitation (Zeiss, 2016) .
Albeit in some cultures, more so in developing countries, it is common for an octogenarian man to marry a teenage and proceed to sire several children, sex among the elderly had almost been entirely forgotten, perhaps since they are beyond the age of procreation, until the advent of the medication sildenafil popularly marketed in the US and the European Union under the trade name Viagra (Payne, 2015) . This brought to the fore the forgotten questions, stories and satire regarding sex and the very old as people began wondering if the aged actually have sex and whether or not they actually enjoy it.
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Popular Culture
The media, print, television and social, is now awash with tales, jokes and depictions of the elderly with sexual undertones from a mainstream perspective with the dark media including pornography sites now having special editions of the elderly either having sex with one another or having sex with younger people, perhaps in a bid to meet the current curiosity and demand for knowledge about sex among the old (Payne, 2015) . Some of the articles are actually educations, some simply meant to entertain while others poke fun at the elderly and their ability to both have sex and enjoy it. Among the most amusing of this is a caricature on the webpage: (http://www.glasbergen.com/wp-content/gallery/sex-cartoons/toon-3381.gif)
The cartoon depicts an elderly couple in bed and seemingly naked, perhaps after a sexual session, the woman is shown to satirically tell her husband that their love is truly eternal since the man seemingly takes an eternity to get ready for sex and the woman will require an eternity to reach her orgasm. This cartoon is generally premised on the biological element of elderly sexuality; the nervous system does not work as well or as fast as it is supposed to which dulls the senses. Other bodily functions like the flow of blood, a fundamental element in human sex more so for the man are also slowed down. It is these biological elements that create the hypothesis outlined in the cartoon (Payne, 2015) .
Purpose for sex
To examine sex from an elders’ perspective, one needs to consider why humans have sex at all. Ordinarily, other mammals only have sex for procreation and will only be sexually aroused during the times when the sex act will lead to conception. Human sexuality is however different since arousal can happen at any time despite the biological cycle (Zeiss, 2016) .
Whereas some, like the Catholic Church may attempt to argue that sex ought to be purely for procreations, human behavior and instincts clearly tell a different story and tend to agree with the scientific notion that human actually evolved in a manner to have sex as a form of companionship and not simply as a tool for procreation. Therefore whereas the initial school of thought seems to suggest that post-menopausal sex id abnormal, the theory of sex for companionship means that the elderly actually need sex more as they have a high propensity for loneliness (Payne, 2015) .
Conclusion
Whichever way we look at it, it is clear from the publicity and debate regarding sex among the elderly that senior citizens are definitely doing it whether with one another or otherwise. Aristotle the great philosopher is quoted to have said that balding is an effect of extra high libido (Payne, 2015) ! The ability of medical assistance to enable the act itself is simply the icing on the cake albeit in some instances this icing is fatal in nature due to the relationship between sildenafil and fatal heart attacks, either way sex is a universal language in our species that cuts across cultural, social and racial divide and should not be limited to anyone, even the elderly.
References
Payne, T. (2015). What the Greeks can teach us about sex among the elderly. The Telegraph . Retrieved from <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/goodlife/11477829/What-the-Greeks-can-teach-us-about-sex-among-the-elderly.html/>
Zeiss, A. M. (2016). Aging and human sexuality resource guide. Retrieved from <http://www.apa.org/pi/aging/resources/guides/sexuality.aspx/>
