Whereas the act of copulation is referred to as making in most species, the human version of the same is called sex and forms one of the most contentious subjects of our time. This is mainly because sex has little to do with its fundamental biological function of breeding; indeed, many scientific, social, and sometimes weird methods have been developed and perfected in an effort to eliminate breeding either temporarily or permanently from the act of sex. Thus, leaving a confused cacophony of functions, their justifications, and limitations. One of the contemporary controversial sexual topics is sex among the elderly, perhaps whipped up by the development of Viagra, a drug that enables older men to copulate albeit with potential adverse impact to health (Bingham, 2016). The biggest surprise of our time was perhaps the realization that older people are actually capable of having and indeed enjoying sex.
The cartoon above depicts an elderly woman comically giving her companion, who seems to have been unable to rise to the occasion and have sex with her a dress down by indicating that he should come up with a different excuse for either his failure or perhaps dismal performance. The words used by the woman show that the man has consistently failed and has overused one excuse leading to redundancy in their sex life. This cartoon creates several impressions including the fact that old people still have sex, old feminine sexual partners still nag their male counterparts, old male partners may be willing to have sex but fail to rise to the occasion, and finally, old people still hold a sense of humor with a sexual innuendo.
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Cartoons are created to a good laugh, however, in the contemporary capitalist world, cartoons are designed to match with a mentality that will not be adverse with that of the readership. It, therefore, automatically follows that when a cartoon is placed in a popular media forum, the ideology depicted in the cartoon generally conforms to the general ideology of the populace. From the depiction in the cartoon, it is also clear that the issue of sex among the elderly is considered from a comical perspective but also a derogatory one leading to the notion that perhaps the younger generation believes that the older people should have retired from copulation.
Again, from studying the cartoons and the words outlined therein, it also creates the impression that in old age, it is harder for men to have sex than women thus leading to the depiction of a man who is frustrated by repeated futile efforts and a woman who is frustrated by the man’s inability. This however, may not be simply an age issue as even among the younger generation, erectile dysfunction is a common biological and social problem for surprisingly the same reasons cited in the cartoon; exhaustion. Other reasons include poor diet, stress, and disinterest (Bingham, 2016).
From a physiological perspective, the cartoon brings out the aspect that having sex goes beyond the mere will to do so, as being a physical activity, there are physical aspects involved. The traditional interpretation of sex involves penetration. For this to happen, there is need for the erectile tissue of the penis to be filled with blood which leading to its expansions, a process commonly referred to as an erection. However, old age weakens both the heart and the blood vessels making it increasingly difficult to achieve and maintain an erection, a fact that makes sex that much difficult. On the other hand however, nothing much needs to happen to a woman for sex to happen, that cannot be resolved using the now popular lubrication gels (Bingham, 2016). This could be the reason why it is the woman seen to be deriding the man and not the other way round.
From a psychological point of view, it is the will to have sex and concentrate in that willingness that makes sex possible. However, due to the nature of sex indicated above, in the woman, the will only affects her ability to enjoy sex and not per se her capacity to have it. In the man however, it is this will that triggered the erection process and also enables maintaining of the erection. As the man grows older, his mental capacity may decrease with the onset of senility which will affect both the mental translation of the will to have sex in order for an erection to be triggered and his ability to concentrate long enough to maintain the erection for a successful copulation (Bingham, 2016). This may also be grounds for the unfortunate scenario depicted in the cartoon
Finally, from the social point of view, the act of the woman harassing the man due to an issue that may very well be out of his control follows the chauvinistic tendencies of men who tend to depict themselves as the victims of the women in their lives. This is seen as a form of reverse psychology in the same manner that dictatorship uses propaganda to depict itself as a victim in the furtherance of its agendas. Research clearly shows that during long-term relationships, the feminine member is always more caring and compassionate towards the male member thus making the words outlined in that cartoon highly improbable. Finally, from a comical perspective, had the man used Viagra, this conversation would have been different.
Reference
Bingham, J. (2016). Older people more unhappy about lack of sex than being housebound. The Telegraph . Retrieved from <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/25/older-people-more-unhappy-about-lack-of-sex-than-being-houseboun/>
