Betty Dodson, Barstools & the Resurrection of Sex Over 60
It Being Easter and All ...
I’m a podcast junkie.
When I miss a trend (it happens), I catch up with Vox’s Today, Explained.
Love the hosts. Love the ‘tude. Irreverent about everything. Everyone.
Funny. Not mean. Usually...
So yeah, I devoured that NYT must-read — “Why Gen X Women Are Having the Best Sex” by Mireille Silcoff.
YEA — Gen X Broads are gettin’ theirs!
But I needed to hear Mireille. So I went straight to the Vox podcast — and liked her:
“What I want for middle-aged women now — I’m talking about elder Millennials and Gen X women — is for them to cease the moment. To see that we are living in an era where a number of factors have come together in a perfect storm to create a truly generative and joyful opportunity for women at the age of 50, or whatever it is.”
YES. WHATEVER IT IS.
Then she took it here:
“Things don’t last forever — I am not gonna be like the Boomers who say — we’re forever young — we’re never gonna blah blah blah.
Baloney! Once you get into — later decades than you’re 50s — things change — priorities change – bodies change – illness comes into the picture – there’s all kinds of things that change.”
Harrumph Harrumph, Mireille.
NO KIDDIN’.
Of course things change. They always do.
Stay with me — I have NO desire to get on my pulpit and speak for all things Boomers and Sex. And oh do I hate these labels.
But … I am here to say: Don’t throw us under the bus.
Why?
Cause one day — you're gonna be us y’all!
And heads-up: Your 60s can be sexy AF. So can your 70s. And maybe 80s. It’s not just about relishing your 50s — it’s about knowing there’s more to come.
And wanting to be “young forever”?
Idiotic.
There are rewards — we just don’t wanna fall apart.
Which, I think, is what she’s saying.
And yes — if you’re:
A. Lucky
B. Still give a shit about sex (some don’t)
C. Willing to put in the work...
‘Cause every year a new body part’s calling for attention.
Now?
Feet.
Before that?
Back, knees, hips — and — wait for it — your pelvic floor.
That’s the baby that keeps your UMPH alive.
Proof, if you want it.
Anyway. I learned all this as I ascended.
So here’s the deal:
You don’t wanna stay young.
Cause you can’t.
And the best part of this whole “WHATEVER IT IS”?
You stop obsessing over how you look in the sack.
Or on the beach.
Bring on the bikinis.
If it’s shaky, who cares — as long as it all works.
And if you feel confident. You’ll pull it off.
So, fuck it.
Hopefully, you get a laugh and a cheer-up for what’s comin’ your way.
Look and listen to these broads…
There’s Betty Dodson!
She ruled the only good show I ever saw on Goop. Holy shit.
This is the moment that finally does right by vaginas—or vulvas—for the first time since Goop's beginnings.
Ready?
Man, to me, it was like—oh yeah—THIS is what we can look forward to sisters. As Betty would say, we gotta …
“RUN THE FUCK” — B.D.
Do you have to turn 90 to be this powerful? Honestly, I don’t know. But it sure gives me a whole bunch of years—and many more to you GenXers and Millennials.
There’s my pal, who shall remain nameless.
She’d been out of the scene — her “libido” was consumed by work. She’s the queen of reinvention — and yes, in her late 60s. She was in the midst of a desert crotch moment. Actually, desert crotch years. It happens.
And then — BLING! The urge came back.
She explains:
“I was perched at a classy bar uptown, when suddenly, my nether regions began to tingle. Was it the barstool? Or was it... the gentleman to my left...?”
It was the gentleman.
She took the leap.
Her floodgates opened. Not to him. Not to romance. But to SEX.
And eventually, the right lover.
Now she’s sending me stuff like this...
And then there’s this beautiful Glorious Broad Julie — somewhere in her 60s...
Gee, I guess I AM talking all things Boomer and Sex.
So let me just sum it up.
All the shit they fed us about aging and sex? DEAD WRONG.
My 70-year-old friend put it best:
“I may not be able to make all the positions anymore. But my mouth still works.”
See what you’ve got to look forward to, my pretties?
Ring-a-ding-ding!
Love the timing of this resurrection post! ;-
I'm 54. After surgical menopause at 51 it took me a year for full recovery and then it was a discovery of a new version of my sexuality that was pleasure based and not partner based. Not to say I don't want or like being with partners-- I do! But my source of desire seems to be coming from within in ways it didn't when I was in my reproductive years,
For those of us who heard the fatal words, NO HRT FOR YOU! Open up your head, heart and legs and take time to explore what sex means to you now and screw differently.