







































The Little Blue Pill and the Rise in STI’s among the Elderly


The Little Blue Pill and the Rise in STI’s among the Elderly 
 
 

Todd A. Cosper 
Special Education and Counseling 

California State University, Los Angeles 
 
 

STI’s have been a serious issue for decades. Countless efforts to 
improve sexual health have attempted to reach people all over the 
world. However, the one demographic that has yet to be 
bombarded with sexual heath campaigns is the elderly. Generally, 
there is a widespread assumption that the elderly simply are not at 
risk for contracting STI’s. The elderly are left in the dark when it 
comes to understanding sexual health practices and the risks of 
being sexually active. In recent years, people are living longer and 
engaging in intimate relationships partly in thanks to the miracle 
pill Viagra. This article looks at the facts regarding STI trends 
among the elderly. There is no refuting that efforts need to be 
aimed at curbing this unfortunate trend. This is a call to action for 
both research and awareness to help this population evade the 
harmful STI’s that have plagued our society for years.  

 
 
  
1 Sexually active senior citizens have 
been a topic that is rarely addressed in 
our social world. It is not a thought that 
one wants to mull over in any critical 
sort of way. It is just too far of a stretch 
for us to imagine, or even to want to 
imagine for that matter. We are 
comfortable believing the elderly are 
nonsexual beings who along with 
disengaging from society have also 
disengaged from intimate relationships. 
We as a society have come to embrace a 
more open attitude about sexuality in 
general, but when it comes to the elderly 
we choose to hold on to a 
                                                 
 Todd Cosper is a graduate student at the 
Division of Special Education and 
Counseling, College of Education. 

Victorianesque ideology that has 
contributed to a rise in STI’s and HIV 
among the elderly. This specific age 
group is looked upon as being out of the 
loop when it comes to safe sex practices. 
Another major contribution to this 
situation is the growing popularity of the 
miracle pill Viagra. Both the high use of 
pills like Viagra and the limited attention 
given to the sexual activity of the elderly 
has put the demographic at a high risk 
for contraction of an STI. 
 The U.S Center for Disease 
Control reports that individuals age fifty 
and older represent more than ten 
percent of total AIDS cases in the United 
States and that HIV cases are increasing 
among individuals in their sixties and 
seventies. During the last decade HIV 

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THE LITTLE BLUE PILL by Todd A. Cosper           47

cases have risen five hundred percent 
among senior citizens. Currently, twenty 
seven percent of individuals living with 
AIDS are age fifty and older (cdc.gov). 
These numbers are in direct conflict with 
our naively held stereotypes of the 
elderly and sexual behavior. Take the 
case of retirement community The 
Villages in Orlando Florida. In 2006 
news broke of a significant number of 
the elderly having contracted a sexually 
transmitted infection (local6.com). A 
gynecologist near the community reports 
that she has “treated more cases of 
herpes and HPV in the retirement 
community than she did in the city of 
Miami” (local6.com). Such cases are too 
significant for us to just ignore. Action 
needs to be taken in order to control the 
spread of these diseases.  
 Researchers and health care 
professionals have attributed this rise of 
STI cases in this demographic to two 
main factors: rise in Viagra use, and lack 
of education regarding safe sex issues. In 
an article in AARP magazine, Susan 
Jacoby expounds on the subject of 
Viagra. Jacoby points out that the Baby 
Boom generation is a product of 
“radically changing sexual mores” and 
that these changing norms have been 
perpetuated in older age by the use of 
Viagra (2005). The once held notion of 
aging has been directly challenged via 
the use of this little blue pill. Jacoby 
reports that the number of men who have 
tried or used Viagra has doubled since 
1999 (2005). It is now time for a cultural 
shift in our thinking and planning when 
it comes to this demographic. Dunn and 
Cutler refer to a study conducted by the 
NCOA (National Council on the Aging) 
that reports forty eight percent of older 
adults as being sexually active, with 

individuals in their sixties (71% of men 
and 51% women) being sexually active, 
individuals in their seventies (57% men 
and 30% women) being sexually active, 
and individuals in their eighties (25% 
men and 20% women) as being sexually 
active (2000).  These statistics confirm 
that elderly couples are human beings 
with sexual needs. Their behavior places 
them at a risk of contracting a life 
threatening disease. 
 Now that we have confirmed the 
fact that the elderly population is at risk 
of contracting STI’s, let us focus on the 
subject of sex education for older adult.  
Dunn and Cutler open dialogue 
pertaining to this subject. They point out 
that, “because many older adults are 
sexually active, and more will become 
sexually active,  new treatment 
modalities, safe sex information and 
council will be essential” (Dunn and 
Cutler 2000). They also point out the 
importance of health care professionals 
being open and honest in screening 
procedures including asking questions 
about sexual history and current activity 
and being a direct resource for HIV and 
STI education for the elderly (Dunn and 
Cutler 2000). For many elderly 
individuals the idea of sex education is 
not something ingrained in their minds 
as it has been with subsequent 
generations. In addition, they have 
surpassed the child bearing years and 
feel no need to use condoms.  Widows 
are back in the dating scene and possibly 
having inter-course with a man, who 
may have engaged in risky sexual 
behavior. All of the risks surrounding 
STI’s and HIV in the younger 
generations are exactly the same in older 
generations. Yes, this means we need to 
include the elderly in such risk factors as 

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THE LITTLE BLUE PILL by Todd A. Cosper           48

multiple sex part-ners, sex with high risk 
populations such as prostitutes. We 
cannot ignore this population because 
we want to hold back on our thoughts 
about sexually active elderly in order to 
avoid being uncomfortable. What we 
should be un-comfortable with is “an 
estimated 30,000 men and women were 
45 or older at the time of their HIV 
diagnosis. Americans 45 or older 
accounted for thirty percent of all those 
diagnosed with AIDS in 2002 who had 
been infected through heterosexual sex” 
(Gottesman 2005). 
 Dr. Adam Zweig attributes the 
rise of HIV/AIDS in the older population 
using two explanations.  “First, people 
are now living longer with HIV. Second, 
there is an increase in risky sexual 
behavior (such as not using condoms). 
There’s been so much success treating 
the infection, the fear factor is gone” 
(Gottesman 2005). Such statements by 
noted professionals reiterate the im-
portance of education in safer sex 
practices. These disparities could be 
attributed to a cohort effect. Many now 
widowed or single older adults were 
monogamously married during the first 
AIDS crisis withholding the mentality 
that they were immune to this disease by 
being heterosexual and married. Today, 
newly single or widowed men/women in 
their older years still carry the mentality 
that they are immune and untouchable 
when it comes to contracting sexually 
transmitted diseases. 
 There is a greater health concern 
with the elderly and STI’s, but for HIV 
in particular. Zelenetz and Epstein draw 
attention to the fact that “The elderly are 
at risk for HIV infection and carry a high 
mortality if diagnosed… 37% of 
individuals 80 years and older have been 

reported to die within a month of 
diagnosis” (1998). They confirm that 
both normal aging aspects such as 
changes in the immune system 
functioning and poor nutrition among 
this population contribute to the pro-
gression of the disease. Gottesman also 
directs attention to the fact that many 
HIV medications exacerbate other 
chronic ailments such as liver problems, 
diabetes, and high blood pressure 
(2005).  This stresses the importance of 
health care professionals, social workers, 
and other professionals who work with 
the elderly to take seriously screening 
and education on HIV. 
 Research has shown that there is 
a significant increase in total knowledge 
scores after AIDS education sessions are 
held among elderly groups (Rose 1996). 
Rose conducted research on a total of 
458 older people at 28 senior meal 
sights. A pre and post questionnaire 
judged on an eight point Likert scale was 
administered before and after an AIDS 
awareness seminar (Rose 1996). Rose’s 
results also garnered data that points to a 
disparity between knowledge of con-
traction and knowledge of who is at risk; 
“the 458 older people surveyed were 
fairly knowledgeable about AIDS but 
generally did not believe themselves 
susceptible to the disease” (1996). 
Findings such as this point to a gap in 
previous research most likely due to an 
age, period, cohort effect juxtaposed 
with the perpetuation of cultural stereo-
typical ideology. Research in this area of 
gerontology must be taken seriously and 
further discussed in order to help those 
with advanced HIV, those susceptible to 
HIV, and subsequent generations. We 
must first and foremost remember we do 
not have a cure for HIV despite the fact 

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THE LITTLE BLUE PILL by Todd A. Cosper           

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2008, VOL. 1 (November: 46-49) 
 

49

that medical advances have improved 
the quality of life for those infected.  
Anybody is susceptible to this disease by 
practicing certain risky behaviors re-
gardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, 
or sexuality. These risky behaviors must 
now be thought of in terms of a 
population that was self reported to have 
been under the impression that they were 
not at risk and also thought of in terms 
of society as a whole in the way of the 
elderly being nonsexual beings. 
 All of the literature reviewed for 
this analysis seems to point to an 
obvious need for further research in this 
area of gerontology as well as a need for 
a shift in cultural perspectives when it 
comes to sexual activity in the later 
years. A revamped Health Behavior 
model and a harm reduction approach 
may prove beneficial in combating what 
could grow into a veritable scourge in 
our society. Research shows 
improvement in the knowledge/behavior 
associated with risk taking after proper 
education by professionals (Rose 1996). 
This serves as valid and reliable proof 
for the need for institutionalized 
educational campaigns. Organizations 
such as AARP and DHHS could be an 
excellent catalyst for such a campaign in 
the form of PSA’s and educational 
propaganda geared toward a growing 
demographic; the elderly. Those in the 
field of gerontology research, on a 
theoretical level, could consider such 
risk taking and HIV prevalence in 
formation of theories that could then 
trickle down to those in the applied 
professions to center their training.  HIV 
and STI’s are now relevant factors in 
society’s construction of the retirement 
years much in the same way they 
became constructions to younger gen-

erations as they pertain to a healthy sex 
life. 
 
REFERENCES 

 
Center for Disease Control. 2007. 

Retrieved November 17, 2007. 
(http://www.cdc.gov). 

Dunn, Marian E. and Cutler, Neal. 2000. 
“Sexual Issues in Older Adults.” 
AIDS Patient Care and STDs 
14:67-69. 

Gottesman, Nancy. 2005. “HIV Over 
50.” AARP, Retrieved Nov. 19, 
2007.(http://www.Aarpmagazine.
org).  

Jacoby, Susan. 2005. “Sex in America.” 
AARP , Retrieved November 19, 
2007 

 (http://www.aarpmagazine.org). 
Local6.com. 2006. “STDs Running 

Rampant in Retirement Com 
munity.” Orlando, Fl, Retrieved 
Nov.15,2007 (http://www. 
Local 6.com/). 

Rose, Molly A. 1996. “Effect of an 
AIDS Education Program for 
Older Adults.” Journal of 

 Community Health Nursing  13: 
141-148. 

Williams, Edith and Donelly, Jerre. 
 “Older Americans and AIDS: 
 Some Guidelines For 
  Prevention.” SocialWork  47: 

105-111. 
Zelenetz, Paul D. 1998. “HIV in the 
 Elderly.” AIDS Patient Care and 
 STDs 12: 255-262. 
  

http://www.aarpmagazine.org/
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/
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