There are lots of ways that health care services for U.S. military members fail service members when it comes to sexual health. While efforts like this one are making progress in putting sexual health on the DoD and VA agenda, there’s still a long way to go. I’ve always been disturbed by the fact that currently TRICARE, the military health insurance, doesn’t cover forensic exams (also called “rape kits”) used for examinations following sexual assaults. So if you’re assaulted you may have to pay out of your own pocket for the exam that can assist you not only in recovery but also in documenting the assault needed to press charges.

Cara over at the Reproductive Rights blog recently pointed us to a proposed change to the rules that would allow coverage for such exams. You can read the proposal here and if you want to support it you can register a comment about the proposed change here.

Read more – Reproductive Rights Blog: Military Insurance (TRICARE) proposes to cover post-assault exams

Related – Post-Combat Soldiers and Sex

_{Photo credit: American Images Inc./Getty Images}

If you read any of the coverage a few weeks back about the Swedish study on sexual activity and satisfaction among 70 year olds you might think things are looking up for any of us who aren’t yet 70 but hope to get there and hope to still have sex when we do. And you’d be right. As widely reported the importance of sex and sexual satisfaction steadily increased among groups of 70 year olds who were asked over a 30-year period about their sex lives. But less widely reported (in fact completely unreported in the mainstream media) are a variety of other interesting findings unearthed in the study, and the many questions it raised about sexuality across the lifespan.

Petra Boynton offers an excellent consideration of some of these points, as well as the limitations of the study (which were also left out of most of the coverage).

Also worth reading is Dr. Peggy Kleinplatz’s editorial that accompanied the study (unfortunately while the study is available online for free, you have to have a subscription to read the editorial). In the editorial Kleinplatz lauds the study for providing well-researched evidence that sexuality is of importance to seniors. But she cautions that many of the findings require further exploration and explanation. For example she points to the finding that in the most recent group of men surveyed report fewer problems getting erections but more problems with ejaculation (which for the purpose of this study is probably synonymous with orgasm). Kleinplatz suggests one interpretation for these findings is that “older men are “performing” better sexually thanks to erectogenic drugs, but enjoying themselves less, thus the difficulty in male orgasm.” Kleinplatz also points out that while over time men and women’s attitudes toward sexuality are converging, both genders continue to blame men alone for any decrease in sexual activity as they age. A finding, which Kleinplatz says, has been consistent for over 40 years.

Read more - BMJ: Secular Trends in Self Reported Sexual Activity and Satisfaction in Swedish 70 year olds: cross sectional survey of four populations, 1971-2001

Read more - Petra Boynton: Sex and the over seventies – what the research really said

Related - Senior Sexuality