Older Women Are More Sexually Active

There are not a lot of statistics available for older women; however data collected by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health shows that among women ages 60 to 94, 34 percent of married women and four percent of non-married women report having had sexual activity in the past three months. The end result of the findings is that these activities have made some unsuspecting women more susceptible to getting an STD - especially HIV, the precursor to AIDS.

"Lots of times the assumption is that women in older age groups aren't sexually active, or that they are in a stable long-term partnership with lower risk," says Dr. Divya |Patel, the study's lead author and a researcher in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan. "In the past, you didn't consider people who are 70 or 80 having sex. Now more couples are able to have intercourse over a longer period of time, due to drugs like Viagra and Cialis, so sexuality is extended into later parts of life, or in some couples it has returned. The main thing to note is that women in the older age group do engage in these behaviours that increase their risk of STDs."

Increase in Diagnosis of HIV/AIDs Amongst Older Women

In fact, in 2005, 15 percent of all new HIV diagnosis was among men and women over the age of 50, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control. Data is limited on other STDs in the older population since STD testing is not routinely performed - even though older women do get them.

The causes for the rise in STDs in older women are biological, cultural and socially related. Older people re-entering the dating pool, whether through divorce or death of a partner, places them at risk. Many women become sexually active with a new partner later in life and her past cultural experiences may not encourage her to make choices that will avoid contracting an STD. Most HIV/AIDS and STD awareness is targeted to younger age groups, so these older women did not get the information in school or from their doctors. Again, cultural/sociological boundaries often make "the talk" with new partners taboo and they're also less likely to use a condom.

Still Needing Protection

After menopause, childbearing is no longer an issue, and the likelihood of discussing the use of protection, like condoms, is slim. On top of it all, physical changes that come with age, the natural thinning of the vaginal wall and reduced lubrication make vaginal tearing more frequent, and the subsequent contraction of an STD more inevitable.

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Syphilis is dangerous

How Do You Get Syphilis?

Syphilis is contracted by coming into direct contact with the sores of an infected person. This generally occurs during sexual activity, including:

• vaginal intercourse
• anal intercourse
• oral intercourse

Pregnant women who are infected with the syphilis bacteria can also pass the disease on to their child during pregnancy. This is known as congenital syphilis.

Who’s At Risk for Syphilis?

Every year, more than 15,000 men and women throughout the United Kingdom contract the syphilis disease. Though anyone can get syphilis, your risk of contracting the disease increases if you:

• engage in unprotected sexual activity
• have multiple sex partners
• are a female between the ages of 20 and 24
• are a male between the ages of 35 and 39
• engage in male to male sexual intercourse

What are the Symptoms of Syphilis?

Syphilis symptoms can be difficult to diagnose because they often resemble symptoms of other diseases, such as chlamydia and gonorrhea. Additionally, syphilis symptoms are often mild in the initial stages of the disease, which means that many men and women do not even realize that they are infected. Symptoms of syphilis occur in three stages:

• Primary Syphilis: During the primary syphilis stage, men and women will notice the appearance of a small, red sore (called a chancre) on their bodies. This chancre generally appears at the site of infection (usually the genitals) within ten and 90 days of infection. This chancre will disappear on its own, leaving a small scar on the skin. If left untreated, symptoms will progress to the secondary syphilis stage.
• Secondary Syphilis: Secondary syphilis symptoms generally appear within two and ten weeks of the primary stage. During this stage, the syphilis bacteria have entered the bloodstream and begin to travel throughout the body, causing numerous symptoms. The main symptom of secondary syphilis is the appearance of a reddish-brown rash on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Additional symptoms include: fever, swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, weight loss, muscle and joint pain, and the appearance of lesions all over the body. Secondary syphilis symptoms will eventually disappear. However, without treatment, the syphilis infection will continue to progress.
• Tertiary Syphilis: During the third stage of infection, the syphilis bacteria begin to affect the vital organs of the body, including the eyes, liver, kidneys, heart, and brain. Symptoms including memory loss, vision problems, and loss of muscle control may occur. A small percentage of those diagnosed with tertiary syphilis will experience life-threatening complications.

Complications of Syphilis

If treated promptly, syphilis can be cured without causing any serious health complications. However, if left untreated, syphilis can become a very dangerous illness. The syphilis bacteria will begin to attack all areas of the body, including the joints and muscles, heart and lungs, spinal cord and brain. People with long-term syphilis are at risk for:

• blindness
• deafness
• muscle control problems
• seizures
• dementia

Because of the sores associated with syphilis, those infected with the disease are also at increased risk for contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Pregnant women infected with syphilis are also at increased risk for miscarriage, preterm labor, and stillbirth.

Diagnosing Syphilis

Syphilis testing is essential in order to ensure that proper treatment for the disease is taken. Diagnosis is typically based on a blood test, which looks for the presence of syphilis antibodies in the blood. Occasionally, health care provider examine samples of the initial syphilis chancres using a dark-field microscope. This type of microscope is specifically designed to highlight the syphilis bacteria. All pregnant women are encouraged to be tested for syphilis early in pregnancy.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the bacteria treponema pallidum. Syphilis has been around for centuries and is often referred to as the Great Imitator, because it causes symptoms that are associated with a number of other diseases and health conditions. There is now effective treatment available for syphilis infections, which can help to prevent the uncomfortable and painful symptoms of the disease. However, if left untreated syphilis can progress, causing serious and potentially life-threatening health complications.

Treatment for Syphilis

When caught in its early stages, syphilis is a very easy disease to treat. Those experiencing symptoms of primary and secondary syphilis infection generally only need a single intramuscular shot of penicillin to be completely cured. If you have had the disease for a long time (more than one year) you may require multiple penicillin injections. Some patients with severe symptoms need to be hospitalized so that they can receive penicillin daily, through an intravenous line. Though syphilis treatment is effective at getting rid of the syphilis bacteria, it can not reverse damage already done to your body by the disease.

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How to make yourself sexy, The 13 secrets of sex appeal

Fresh, chatty, and filled with Tracey Cox's personal tips and hilarious anecdotes, Superflirt takes the reader through the fundamentals of body language, then shows you how to express the messages you want to send and how to read what other bodies are saying to you. Packed with intimate photographs of real-life scenarios, this is the most stylish, elegantly designed, and up-to-date guide to body language available.

What makes someone sexy? Good question! After all, what's sexy to one person is 'Are you kidding?' to another. I'm not entirely sure whether it makes me sad, hopeful or a resourceful workaholic (it's my job, after all, to work with potential), but I can usually find something sexy about practically every person I meet. As evidenced by one (admittedly rather bleary) morning, standing outside a hotel in Bordeaux, waiting for everyone else to get their act together, and trying hard not to be seduced by the posh shop windows. Instead, I got seduced by the sight of a man who sauntered up the street toward me. These French really have got that sexy look mastered, I thought to myself, I mean look at this guy! The slightly dishevelled hair, shirt buttons undone, deliberately unshaven. It's all so well done, it's a little contrived really, I sniffed… Except… what was he doing rummaging around in that rubbish bin? Turned out the dishevelled look wasn't contrived after all. I know there's probably a law against fancying tramps/making any sort of sexual comment about the less financially fortunate, but it is a compliment and it does illustrate my point. Which is this: sex appeal is all about attitude and aura and making the best of what you've got. This guy wasn't waiting for money or status or society's approval before he'd let himself feel sexy. He just was and being seen rummaging in a rubbish bin didn't stop him throwing me a killer smile and saying something which sounded deliciously naughty. (Well, given the only French I know is 'Pardon. Je parle pa Francoise' - Sorry but I can't speak French - it could have been 'Sod off', quite frankly, but it sounded guttural and gorgeous.) There's a lesson in there for all of us.

Of course, what people really mean when they ask 'What makes someone sexy' is 'Am I sexy' and 'How can I be sexier?'. So let's just get right down to it, shall we? Here's the real secrets of sex appeal, along with how you can use the evidence practically to help boost your sex appeal.

You've on the right track if …

• Both sides of you match. The more symmetrical your face and body, the more sexually attractive you are and the more attention you get. It's not the result of nasty brainwashing by society either - even babies go ga-ga for symmetry. Far more manipulative than the media is Mother Nature. She consistently protects the healthiest of the species by making sure those from the strongest gene pool (in this case, the symmetrical) are seen as the most attractive. While no body is ever truly symmetrical (so stop stressing about your left boob/testicle being smaller/lower than the other right now), appearing 'matched' helps immeasurably. Female bodies are actually programmed to appear 30% more symmetrical on the magical high-conception day after ovulation. Not that it matters terribly much if you're symmetrical the rest of the time, mind you: you were probably shagging anyway! People with symmetrical bodies usually lose their virginity much younger and have more sexual partners than their lop-sided friends. (Which supports my own personal theory that the more attractive (aka symmetrical) you are, the more opportunities you have had to have sex and the higher your sexual scorecard. So all you smug bastards who look wide-eyed when asked and say, 'I've only ever had three' could effectively be saying, 'Only three people have asked me'.)

Lesson: Wear matching socks. (Not much else you can do to influence this one).

• You look like your genitals Err, perhaps I'd better explain this one properly. Sex obsessed creatures which we are, anything which reminds us of sex usually gets us going. A female with full, glossy, red lips is a turn-on because her lips mimic what (he fantasises anyway) is hopefully happening elsewhere: the vagina also 'plumps', moistens and darkens in colour when aroused. Phallic shaped foods like courgettes and bananas also subconsciously influence desire. Which goes a long way to explain why a. hotdogs are so popular (let's not even go there about the sauce); b. people cling to the myth about oysters being an aphrodisiac and c. the 'just got out of bed' look never goes out of fashion (we like to imagine anyone attractive in one - with us of course). In the same vein, a 'fertile' face is seen as a beautiful one. Clear, fresh skin, shiny eyes, youthful plump lips, a cold nose (or is that just dogs?) - a healthy-looking face like that tends to come attached to a body which is bursting to conceive. That's right, good old MN again, guiding us to the people most likely to keep the planet populated!

Lesson: Feel zero guilt when spending up big on lipgloss and load it on.

• You've got a big mouth Researchers created computerised versions of the average female face before getting test groups to rate their attractiveness. The first set were awarded an average attractiveness rating. In the next set, researchers increased the eyes and lips by 10% with this result: the faces were seen as younger and more beautiful. Once these features were exaggerated further however, the faces were universally judged as sexier. Look at the makeup on a typical glamour model: lots of heavy eyeliner to enlarge the eyes, pale, pouty lipgloss to accentuate the lips. Exactly the look you should aim for if you want to inspire lust… and if all you're searching for is a short-term fling. If you're after a long-term love affair, then a totally new set of rules apply! Prepare to bury the 'all men are bastards' theory forever (it's ridiculous anyway!): it's personality, not looks, which men go for in a long-term partner. A sexy face might inspire lust, but it's the girl with an average face and a nice personality who hook up long-term with. Why? It's her again! MN wants men to choose women whose idea of heaven is staying at home to raise their babies rather than dancing half-naked on a podium at a dance party.

Lesson: Looks count but it's your personality which makes people stick around.

• You walk young Along with swinging hips and general 'attitude', there's another crucial element to harness if you want to be seen as sex-on-legs: flexibility. Flexibility is what makes people appear to 'walk young' - an instant winner in the sexy stakes, says US human behaviouralist David Lieberman.

Lesson: Loosen those limbs.

• You make pots of money. If the 'all men are bastards' theory isn't true, the 'all women are bitches' one just might be. Countless studies show women continually go for good looks and money and if forced to choose between the two, money wins every time. I strongly objected to this research, convinced it was inaccurate. I'm not money-obsessed and neither are my girlfriends, so I asked a broad selection of men (aged 15-80) what the real story was. I'm embarrassed to report they and all said this is true of 80% of the women they meet. Maybe it's the old baby theory again (he earns enough to support you), I'd rather believe that than greed.

• You look like a girl, even if you're a bloke Just like men, women go for different types depending on what she wants from the relationship. This was again, all rather nicely illustrated by an experiment which allowed women to control the features on a computer generated face. By moving a bar, she could make the man's face more masculine or feminine looking. Most of the time, the feminine face won her heart because they trusted and felt safer with this sort of look. During ovulation, when women are at their most fertile, the sweet guys didn't even get a look in. Bugger nice, they all said, this is about sex, and they pushed the bar in the other direction to choose the most masculine face possible. But it's not just a case of going for the traditional bad boy look at the time when you're most likely to feel like a bit, evolutionary theory says this is the guy with the most testosterone. Which of course means a guy who'll father healthy offspring and be physically strong enough to protect them from the dangers of outside world. Post ovulation, when lust takes a backseat and logic settles in, the women again rejected the masculine men. Then they were voted too aggressive and womanizing: 'a man like that would want lots of sex and seek it elsewhere if he didn't get it at home'.

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STD information

Every sexually active woman is at risk of becoming infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Using a condom can significantly reduce your risk of contracting numerous STDs. However, condoms cannot protect against those STDs that can be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, such as "Crabs," also known as scabies and pubic lice, and the HPV virus which is responsible for genital warts and cervical cancer. If you are sexually active, it is important to know the facts about STDs as well as engage in safe sexual practices in order to protect yourself and keep yourself healthy.

All STDs can be treated to help relieve symptoms. However, most do not have cures and some may even prove to be fatal. Incurable STDs include herpes, genital warts, HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis. Other STDs, like trichomoniasis, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea, can be cured but immediate treatment is necessary in order to prevent damage to your reproductive organs.

Even if an STD can be cured, any damage that may occur to your body prior to treatment is irreversible. This makes early treatment of STDs crucial to your reproductive and sexual health, as many sexually transmitted diseases remain undetected and can lead to more severe conditions such as cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and cervical cancer. Receiving regular pap smear tests is one of the best ways to prevent and diagnose STDs and related complications in women.

Experts are always working to develop new ways of treating, curing, and preventing STDs. Thanks to their efforts, there is now a vaccine for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, and HPV. While these vaccines will help to curb the number of women affected every year by these devastating infections, they cannot help those already infected. On the other hand, there is no vaccine currently available for Hepatitis C. However, there are some ways the disease can be prevented. Find out more at our Hepatitis C page.

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