Age Does Not Decrease Sexual Satisfaction, Article Critique Example

The Internet has already become an indispensible part of social and academic search and data retrieval; alongside with the traditional sources of data, one can always find journals and books online, let alone the enormous number of online articles and news dedicated to various topics. Despite the widespread opinion that the majority of Internet sources are unreliable and may never help in the scholarly search, one should also note that some credible sources, authors and works may be found in the online databases as well as on thematic sites dedicated to specific scientific, medical, social, religious, and other issues. Therefore, the Internet search may often yield positive results and enable the searcher to make a set of valuable conclusions on the topic of his/her interest. The present paper deals with the information on sexuality in the Internet, and the four sources found clearly illustrate the way the subject is approached by different writers and organizations. The amount of truly efficient information elicited from those articles will be summarized in the conclusion.

The first article on sexuality found in the Internet deals with sexuality in the old age; it was noted at the About.com site, and it summarized the findings of the joint American-Norwegian research on the tendencies in male sexuality changing with age. The findings indicate that men in their 50s are able to feel much more sexual satisfaction than the representatives of their sex in their 30s or 40s. Therefore, the main cause for sexuality reduction with age is seen not in the biological processes of degradation in the sexual system itself, but in the effect of such diseases as hypertension and diabetes (Eure, 2006).

The discussed article of Eure (2006) gives reliable data from clinical research held in both countries, the USA and Norway, and one can see that the issue of sexuality here is approached from the medical point of view. However, it is also evident that sexuality, namely sex addiction, is now seen as the product that can be marketed and advertized. This fact is supported by the article of Jackson (2004) who discusses the sex scandals in which celebrities are often involved, and the growing demand for the sex addiction treatment facilities in the USA. The Center for Healthy Sex and the controversial attitude to the issue of sex addiction as a diagnosis are discussed with the major emphasis on the disorder’s seriousness, and popularity of sex rehabilitations centers (Jackson, 2001).

Sexuality is not always viewed and discussed openly in the Internet resources, no matter how little censorship there is. The article of Ryan (2010) is an illustration of a religious attitude to sexuality; it contains tips on teaching children about their sexuality, preparing them for that sexual education, ways of talking about sex according to the Biblical rules etc. Here sexuality is viewed as a sin, as an unpleasant and undesirable consequence of social life, and the necessary precondition for creating a family and continuing the familial traditions. One of the article’s parts even provides advice on how to prevent the sexualization of girls, which is seen as the negative impact of the modern media (Ryan, 2010).

Finally, the article on sexuality offered by the counseling directory is a completely different product of writers on the subject; it includes the guidelines for those feeling that they are homosexual or have some other unusual sexual preferences. The article aims at persuading such people that there is nothing strange or horrible about their unusualness, and help them find a proper counselor to solve the problem with their self-evaluation and self-esteem (Sexuality: Find a counselor or psychotherapist dealing with Sexuality, 2010). This article also addresses medical issues concerning sexuality, but not in the manner the first article does; the present work is more of social or psychological help, while the article of Eure (2006) considers the purely medical implications.

As one can see from the present account, there is truly much diverse information on various issues in the Internet, sexuality included. There are many blogs and short articles without authors and site names, which shows their poor quality and absence of reliability. Nonetheless, the articles chosen for the present work represent average to high quality of information, using reliable and realistic data and providing answers to different questions and for different types of searchers.

References

Eure, M.A. (2006). Age Does Not Decrease Sexual Satisfaction: Older Men Are Still Satisfied With Their Sex Lives. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://seniorhealth.about.com/od/sexandsexuality/a/sex_life.htm

Jackson, R. (2004). Modeling Healthy Behavior. Focus on the Family. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/sexuality/teaching_children_healthy_sexuality/modeling_healthy_behavior.aspx

Ryan, H. (2010). Sex addiction rehab a thriving industry. Los Angeles Times Online. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.latimes.com/health/la-et-sex-addiction-20101115,0,966827.story

Sexuality: Find a counselor or psychotherapist dealing with Sexuality (2010). Counseling Directory. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.couns elling-directory.org.uk/sexuality.html