A TV host, who has been covering the life of senior citizens since 1994, published a book, in which she argued that the society should pay more attention to one of the most neglected issues of the elderly: their sexual desire.
In a book, titled "The Second Youth," Yu young-mi who works for SBS, said, "Our society needs to drop its prevalent and preconceived idea that when you get old, you don't feel the sexual desire any more," Chosun Ilbo on Saturday cited her as saying.
"Those younger assume the senior citizens don't feel the sexual. Senior citizens themselves also feel not 'appropriate' to acknowledge it either.
"But the matter of the fact is that many elderly people still have the sexual need," she said.
Yu came to know this rather private, almost neglected concern of the elderly when she frequently met with senior citizens in the late 1990s. "I found out that this problem is big on their minds. But they couldn't discuss it with their family members. So, I felt that I should raise awareness of the issue by airing it," she said.
Yu was bold and straightforward in her book too. At one page, she wrote: "Foreplay is the key in elderly sex."
Yu also said that senior citizens themselves needs to build internal confidence, not fall victim to "feeling of deprivation," which she cited as the most common challenge for the elderly.