Blog Tour Interview, Review, & Giveaway: The Ultimate Guide to Sex After 50 by Joan Price!

Title: The Ultimate Guide to Sex After Fifty: How to Maintain or Regain a Spicy, Satisfying Sex Life
Author: Joan Price
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: December 22nd 2014
Source: Cleis Press


Book Description via Goodreads:

The population over age 50 is larger than ever in history. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 32.1 percent of the U.S. population were age 50 and over in 2011. This demographic is also healthier, more aware, more youthful, and more vocal than any previous older generation. Thanks to ongoing medical discoveries, the sexual revolution, and the Internet, today’s seniors are also sexier than ever or at least they’re now willing to talk and ask about sex as never before. They are the generation that discovered clitoral orgasms, vibrators, and Viagra, and there’s no stopping the thirst for knowledge and pleasure now. Since 2005, Joan Price has penned Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty and emerged as the go-to sexpert for the over-50 population. Price's savvy advice, honesty, helpfulness, and humor garnered awareness in the media, in professional circles of therapists and sex educators, and among the huge population of people over 50 who hunger for real information from an age appropriate author. Price tackles it all in this definitive guide to sex and aging: health, fun (and function), disability, dating, illness, orgasms, G-spots, P-spots, polyamory, kink, and much more.

Interview with Joan Price:

I am very excited to have sex expert Joan Price on the blog today to answer some questions about her new book!

*How did you begin your work as a senior sex expert?

I was led by passion – literally! I had fallen in love with a 64-year-old man when I was 57, and I didn’t understand why there were no books that reflected how hot an older-age love affair could be! So at age 61, I wrote Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk about Sex After Sixty to celebrate the joys of senior sex.

After that book came out, readers deluged me with questions and concerns that were making their own sex lives less than satisfying. I started on a quest that has lasted 10 years (so far) to provide people of my age group with the information they need to enrich or revive their sex lives, partnered or solo. Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud about Senior Sex was my next book, and it won multiple awards.

People continued to write me – they wanted more information, more depth. I realized that I needed to write a book that would be the most comprehensive and up to date senior sex guide possible. That book became The Ultimate Guide to Sex after Fifty.

*What is one of the most common issues that arises between couples, in regards to their sex lives?

I use “the old ways don’t work anymore” as the umbrella term for all the changes, physical and emotional, that wreak havoc on our sex lives. For couples, this can be mismatched libidos, medical problems, staleness in a relationship, and much more. The less couples communicate about these changes, the worse the problems become. I see many couples who love each other, but sex is not satisfying, and they haven’t found a productive way to talk about it.

*Sometimes sex just stops all together, whether both partners want it to or not. Do you have any tips on how to start a dialog about how to bring sex back into the relationship after it has taken a hiatus??

Yes, in fact, I have several dialogues in The Ultimate Guide to Sex after Fifty that readers can adapt to their own situation so that they’re bringing up the subject in a loving, non-accusatory, welcoming way. It’s important not to blame or shame the partner, but to propose that you would both be happier by working to regain the intimacy that has fallen away. It’s a journey you’re going on together, and the rewards are worth every effort.

*Did you always know that you wanted to write books to help others?

Yes, I’ve always wanted to help people, even before I became a professional writer. I was a high school English teacher for 22 years. After that, I wrote health and fitness books and articles for many years until I switched topics to senior sex. I have to say, this topic is the most enjoyable!

*Can those who are affected by pains such as arthritis or fibromyalgia still maintain an active sex life?

Yes, I have plenty of information in the book about arthritis and other medical conditions, timing medications, positions that work when our old favorites don’t, and other ways to adapt so that our aging bodies can have sex actively and joyfully. I also suggest that we should be direct about asking our doctors for help, and we should be prepared to say, “If you can’t help me, please refer me to someone who can.”

*What are three "tools" (so to speak) that every couple should have on hand?

1. Lubricant
2. Vibrators
3. Communication

*A lot of people assume that because there's little-to-no chance of pregnancy, that safer sex isn't a necessity at a certain age. That can't be true, can it?

No! STIs are rampant in our age group. We have to insist on barrier protection every time, with everyone, until or unless we’re in a committed, sexually exclusive relationship. I’m on a safer-sex soapbox, as you saw from Chapter 16. I give some scary stats about how susceptible we are to STI transmission. We’re in charge of our own sexual health.

*I know that it can be hard to seek new partners, especially when your own confidence isn't very high. What's a good way to boost self-esteem or self-comfort?

That’s a huge question. We have to do the inner work, maybe get some counseling if we have low self-esteem. No partner can “complete” us. We have to feel complete in ourselves, then we’ll attract the partners who are drawn to the person we are.

*Can you tell us a bit about your new book in your own words?

The Ultimate Guide to Sex after Fifty covers a myriad of topics about older-age sexuality with accurate, up to date information, tips, warmth, and humor. It covers the concerns of singles as well as couples, and is LGBT inclusive. It covers reviving relationships, medical issues such as ED and vaginal pain, medications, dating at our age, grief, and all those elements that affect our sexuality whether they directly involve our genitals or not. I’m very proud of this book!

*What is one piece of advice or knowledge you'd like your readers to walk away with?

Whatever problem you’re facing, there is a solution. Arm yourself with solid information and be willing to use creativity and a sense of humor as you explore solutions. Don’t give up!

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some of my questions today, Joan. I'm positively honored!

Visit the Author!:

Website | Blog

Review:

★★★★★

I have to say, Joan Price really did think of everything.

When I was asked to be a part of the blog tour for this title, I opted to do a review despite the fact that I'm in my twenties out of the interest of being a pro-sexual health and all inclusive blog. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be so jam packed with information- I'm really glad I gave this a read!

No matter what problems you may be facing in the bedroom, Price has offered solutions, or at the least, help to help you find your own solutions. Whether the problem is something stemming from problems in communication, pain or illness, or just trying to find the "mood" again, the bases are covered in this book. There's a focus on health in this book which I find super important, from finding positions that "work" to avoiding things like STIs- just because you've gotten older doesn't mean the risks get less scary!

There's also a lot of helpful starts to dialogues in this book, which I think is a great and well-needed inclusion. It can be awkward to talk about feelings and sexual desires no matter what your age is. Price offers safe conversations to have in the interest of avoiding discomfort or fighting, and I think people of any age can appreciate that.

I was also really happy to see that this book is LGBT inclusive. It's a dynamic that's often missed, in my personal opinions, in sexual help books.

I think that any adult can benefit from reading this book. Though the main demographic is for those over 50, I am 23 and I still learned from it because there is so much cohesive and helpful advice in this guide. Though I may not need all of the advice just quite yet, I will definitely be keeping this book on my sex positive bookshelf for future reference (and may be discreetly giving copies to some people in my life I think could benefit from reading it!)

Thank you so much to Cleis Press for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

Giveaway:

-This giveaway will run from November February 19th to the 27th, 2015
-This giveaway is US & CAN ONLY
-This giveaway is open to those 18+

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