More On Sex and Aging
And with perfect timing as a follow-up to this post Via Alex of Neatorama, Time Magazine has an article by Michiko Toyama about Japanese "elder porn"
Besides his glowing complexion, Shigeo Tokuda looks like any other 74-year-old man in Japan. Despite suffering a heart attack three years
ago, the lifelong salaryman now feels healthier, and lives happily with his wife and a daughter in downtown Tokyo. He is, of course, more physically active than most retirees, but that’s because he’s kept his part-time job — as a porn star.
...
Tokuda is rare among Japanese porn stars in that his name has become a brand. The Shigeo Tokuda series he’s just completed portray him as a tactful elderly gentleman who instructs women of different ages in the erotic arts, and he boasts a body of work far more impressive than most actors in their prime.
As A from France put in in comments on that previous post, "We feel exactly the same as we ever did but people judge us from our outward appearances, or our birth certificates." It's easy to mock John Derbyshire's claim that women are already "over the hill" after puberty but if he'd said instead that men and women are over the hill considerably later -- say 65, or 75, or so how many people would have mocked him then?
Thank you for the quote :)
The Time article is very interesting. I've seen it mentioned in a few places today so I read the full thing. Apparently the video series that Tokuda has just completed is all about men with daughters-in-law, which disappointed me a little.
Still, it did also say that a few years ago, when a different company started specialising in mature women films, that "mature women" meant actresses in their late 20s!! They didn't say how many years ago:) But progress has been made - it seems they now have actresses in their 70s, they're cheaper!
[Agreed. Downside? It said 70-year-old women were paid only $2000 while younger women earned way, way, way more. But as demand has gone up so, I guess, has pay. Thanks, A. --fl]