Next Step: Good Vibrations Off-Site Sex Education and Active Senior Lifestyles
By Evie • Oct 20th, 2009 • Category: Blog, Good AdviceI have been working for Good Vibrations for over 3 years now and I was just thinking: I could never see myself working anywhere else. Where else can I talk openly about sex and vibrators while holding a dildo in my hand, or explain why anal sex is healthy and pleasurable—it’s all just another day at the office for me.
I love our mission—educating our customers about sex-positivity and working to have people feel comfortable talking to their own kids about sex in a comfortable way just like you were talking about romance and love and learning to ride a bike. It is comfortable and when you learn how to ride a bike, even if you have not ridden for awhile, you can get back and it will take you to new and exciting adventures.
I started out working as a SESA (Sex Educator Sales Associate) and now write a regular blog and give classes in menopause and how to choose the best vibrator. But my goal as a sex educator is to go out into the community and teach others how using a condom can be a sexy part of foreplay or how a toy can add a beautiful part of partner play or solo play. So recently I joined the team of the OSSEs, which stands for Off-Site Sex Educator. Now I can go out to colleges and organizations that want our knowledge on sex education and help build a strong foundation of sex-positivity in the Bay Area and beyond.
If you would like one of the OSSEs to teach a class for your organization, please email our education director, Dr. Charlie Glickman PhD. and let him know (info below). He can arrange for one of the team to come speak to your group. We cover a variety of topics—let us know what you’re interested in.
For example, we could conduct a class on Safe Sex. Recently, there’s been an outbreak of STDs and STIs that is not only creeping into age groups 15 to 25, but now, among adults in the over 50’s to 70’s. An article in Time magazine reported that many senior citizens are contracting STDS because there isn’t enough sex education targeted at them. Many are past the age where an unwanted pregnancy can occur but there are other things you still need to protect yourself against what ever your age. Doctors are starting to see that there needs to be more sex education given to our seniors. This is a new take on the “Active Senior Lifestyle”.
Incidents of syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea have increased in every age group and now AIDS is on the rise in older adults as well:
According to the US Centers for Disease and Prevention:
…”people age 50 and older make up more than 10 percent of total AIDS cases in this country, and that HIV cases are increasing among people in their 60’s and 70’s. Also, it has been reported that during the last decade HIV cases has risen 500 percent among Senior Citizens, and AIDS cases among people over-50 have raised from 16,000 in 1975 to 90,000 in 2003. Now nearly 27 percent of people living with AIDS in America are 50 and older.”
Part of the reason for these increasing statistics is, many seniors still don’t practice safe sex and care providers don’t think your Grandma or Great-Grandma could still be enjoying sexual bliss–but sex is part of life, no matter how old you are — and thank God for that! Sex will keep you young and energized. We only ask that you keep safe.
So if there are any healthcare organizations, senior citizen communities or service organizations reading this, who would like us to come to you and give you a class from one of our qualified OSSEs, contact Dr. Charlie Glickman at charlieg@goodvibrations.com and he can tell you how we can come and teach a class. This is just one of the many subjects we can cover for your groups. Ask Charlie for other ideas!
Related at Good Vibrations:
Shopping Guide: Celebrating Sex at an Older Age
