THE SUN-HERALD August 5, 2007 55

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

COVER STORY>EXTRA

>HEALTHY LIFE LETS YOU

LOVE A LITTLE LONGER
SLY little wonder drug Viagra may have
changed the way people have sex, but
it has also changed the way we talk
about it.
‘‘Even little old ladies can tell jokes
about Viagra and get away with it,’’ says
sex therapist Dr Rosie King (pictured
left). ‘‘Viagra has changed things
dramatically. I call it the second sexual
revolution. It has made it permissible to
talk about sex, and made us realise that
older people can be sexually active too.’’
The author of Good Loving Great Sex
says there is no doubt that erectile
dysfunction is more common in older
men. And women have more difficulty
having sex after menopause.
About 60 per cent of 60-year-olds will
experience erectile
dysfunction. For
men in their 70s it’s
70percent. For men
in their 80s, it’s
80percent.
Viagra has helped
more couples have
intercourse. Despite
that, there is still
little known about
how often older
people have sex.
The best evidence
was a 2002 global
study of sexual
attitudes and behaviour that surveyed
27,000 men and women aged 40 to 80
in 29 countries.
It found that 80 per cent of men and
60percent of women were having sex.
The same numbers said sex was
important for them.
‘‘There is still a lot that we don’t know
because sex and ageing is still a
tremendous taboo,’’ King says.
‘‘We don’t like to think of our mothers
and fathers and particularly our
grandparents having sex. But we do
know that sex remains important well
into old age.’’
The general rule when it comes to
maintaining good sex is what’s good for
you is good for your sex life. King
Picture: ROBERT PEARCE recommends a good diet and regular
exercise. She says smoking is the enemy
‘‘I say: ‘Do you use a condom?’ and they look chemotherapy took out any twinkle that I may strong bond, but we’re both independent, of a good erection and both men and
at me as though I was twitty. A very small have had,’’ she says. ‘‘We’ve been married we always have been,’’ Dianne says. ‘‘Sex was women should limit their alcohol intake.
percentage of older women would go into a 30-something years so the absence of sex wasn’t the icing on the cake and when it faded of ‘‘Regular sex helps sex,’’ she says.
new relationship and use condoms.’’ going to cause him to depart but I think it’s a course we both missed it. ‘‘If you don’t use it, you lose it. This is
For 67-year-old Dianne*, an active sex life lot harder for my husband than it is for me.’’ ‘‘Without the icing there is still a deep love particularly true of erections.
is in the past. Ten years ago, chemotherapy for Instead, the couple goes to the movies and the there. That shows true love and absolute ‘‘Having a good relationship is also
breast cancer zapped her libido and she has theatre. They also maintain active independent commitment. We’re lucky we had a lot of important. Even a truckload of Viagra
found her energy levels stripped by a lifetime lives; he goes on sailing trips and she spends good times.’’ isn’t going to fix a relationship that
battling chronic fatigue. time reading and gardening. has soured.’’
‘‘About once a month we do manage it but ‘‘We’re still together and we still have a very * Names have been changed.

into a demanding world

Hicks spends his time reading and replying during his incarceration in Cuba was a possible
to the 60 or so letters he receives a week. He reunion with his two children. Last month
has asked permission to complete his Hicks’s estranged partner, Jodie Sparrow,
secondary education. brought their 12-year-old son, Terry jnr, to
‘‘David’s main focus is to finish his schooling,’’ Yatala to visit him.
Terry Hicks says. ‘‘He wants to try to get into ‘‘He said he had seen his son and it was great
university. He is interested in geology and to catch up with him,’’ Terry Hicks says.
ecology. He knows there’s work out here in the ‘‘David just wants to get the time done and
mining industry and he was always interested in get out, then get on with his life. He’s not going
geology and rock formation, as well as ecology to push the system. Whatever happens he goes
and zoology.’’ along with it. I think he just wants to make life
Terry Hicks has noticed other changes in his as easy as possible for himself. There is no
son. ‘‘David hasn’t got that nervy and strained pressure on him. He just wants to get through
conversation any more. He is more free-flowing that system and come home.’’
when he is talking. Sometimes he’s hard to As the countdown for Hicks’s release ticks
understand because he is trying to pass on as away, his father is concerned about his son’s re-
much information as he can in the short space entry into a world he left behind more than five
of time [during visits]. years ago in Afghanistan. ‘‘At the moment he
‘‘And each week he is looking healthier. A really doesn’t understand what is going to
little overweight but still healthier. He’s lost that happen. He just says, ‘I’m not talking to anyone’.
real puffy look he had. That’s gone now.’’ We understand that, but as time gets closer, we
The biggest changes his father has observed have to be realistic about what is going to
aren’t physical. ‘‘David has matured. You can sit happen.
down and have an in-depth conversation with ‘‘He’ll need resocialisation, and we will try
him now. Before, when he was younger, he was to make that transformation as smooth as
more blasé. He thinks about everything now. possible.’’
‘‘He is a thinker now more than a reactor.’’ It will be Terry Hicks’s loyalty and dedication
One thought that consumed David Hicks as a parent that will no doubt be essential. LOYAL: Terry Hicks outside Yatala prison. (left) A non-contact visiting booth. Main picture: DAVID MARIUZ
A
A 055