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IRELAND NEEDS TO have a frank discussion about all things sexual.
That’s the message being put forward at a Sexual Wellness conference taking place in Cork today and tomorrow. The event is being organised by Liz Madden and other members of Cork Feminista.
Madden said that the purpose of the event is to help people become “more open and sexually-liberated”.
We come from a sexually-repressed country … Ireland is changing, people talk about sex more freely now.
Speakers at the two-day conference, which is taking place at the Camden Palace Hotel, will cover a diverse range of topics including sexual confidence and health, prostitution, trafficking, and sexuality in older age.
Madden said that the media has somewhat warped people’s views of sex and who’s having it.
The typical sexual being is the young, thin, tanned woman. When did you ever see an older person portrayed in a sexual way in the media? … Disabled people are sexual beings. Elderly people are sexual beings.
Ciarán McKinney, the Director of Development at Age and Opportunity, will be discussing sexuality among older people at 2.15 pm tomorrow.
There’s an assumption that older people aren’t sexual.
McKinney said there is a misconception that “whether you’re gay or straight, you cease being a sexual being once you get older”.
He stated that when the issue is raised it can get “a negative reaction, ‘Oh God, that’s disgusting, that’s gross’.”
“Older people are often the objects of fun and derision [when it comes to sex].”
He noted that older people need to be made aware of the dangers of contracting sexually-transmitted infections, as the occurrence of STIs in older age groups is on the rise.
McKinney will also be discussing issues that face members of the older LGBT community.
There’s a degree of resilience among older gay people, many people grew up pretty much in the closet … when being gay was still illegal.
He said that many older LGBT people fear they will “have to go back into the closest” if they enter residential care.
“They’ll have to go through the nightmare of having their identities hidden again.”
McKinney said that Irish people “don’t fully have an understanding of both sex and sex among older people”.
“Sex didn’t exist until the Late Late Show,” he said, describing conversations about about sex and intimacy that took place in the early days of the chat show as “groundbreaking”.
He added that people need to be more sexually “literate” and “become aware of the joys of sexuality”, partly through public discussions on so-called “taboo” subjects.
Today at 1.30 pm Lucy Smith from Ugly Mugs and a number of sex workers will be speaking about the realities of prostitution and trafficking.
Ugly Mugs is a service that aims to improve the safety of sex workers in Ireland and reduce crimes committed against them, by providing a platform for them to share information about potential dangers.
Smith said she will be discussing “the reality of sex work as opposed to the sensational side that is reported”.
She added that her goal is for “non-judgemental support services” to be established for sex workers in Ireland.
The conference’s full schedule is available here. Tickets are free, but Cork Feminista recommends that people attending make a €5 donation to the Camden Palace Hotel.
There’s no getting away from that patronising bollicks Ray Darcy these days.
Probably the most shallow and insincere person on radio.
Agreed !!! A1 knob !! Listen to his interviews he asks a question and then wont let the person finish their answer.
Absolutely! The ultimate interrupter. Knob!
The most Irritating knob end I’ve ever heard.. God damn mr PC ray fookin darcy
Increase in Irish people having ‘the’ sex and Late Late Show is definitely linked as back then, there were only 2 channels on the telly and if there wasn’t a film on RTE 2 then the Late Late was probably shite and everyone went to bed, said their prayers and had ‘the’ sex…..!
…… With the lights off in the missionary position. None of that fancy stuff.
Mick.. I have news for you. There was only 1 channel in Ireland up to 1978.. So there was more s.e.x. (whispers) going on.
And the bloody thing shut down at 10:30…
Obviously you lived in the country!!!! I had the bbc, itv and channel 4 in 1984 !,,,
Yeah Ireland has changed ive seen it alot. But I find irish women have in built Catholic guilt and can’t take a compliment.
They can be intimate about their local GAA club, horse racing, Man United, etc but can’t even talk to their wives.
Talk to the wife!!! So how does that work?
It’s like talk to Joe Duffy,or ranting at Niall Boylan but without the radio and the phone.
‘Sex didn’t exist until the Late Late show’???
Thanks to Tubridy It no longer exists
Old people screw too! Indeed they do!
Too whit to whoooo
The merry owl while greasy Joan doth keel the po.
Can you hear the armies of the RCC thundering towards their keyboards?
Brian.. Believe it or not.. Catholics have sex too.. Its allowed you know
Correct, it is only a sin if you enjoy it.
Or if you use those French Letter things that they sell in the backs of the foreign magazines.
Smartass..
Rubbish. Not only has Ireland been a leader in sexual expression, and capable of teaching the world a thing or two; but this article mixes up sex and deviance.
The group of people who have more sex, more often, are happily married persons. Fact. Ireland have more of these than anyone, worldwide. Check out our influence on population around the world, we are not scarce. Warning, sex leads to children. QED
What this article, and the conference, wishes to promote, is deviance. Sex with whoever, whenever. The reality is that this lifestyle leads to less sex, less frequently. So rather than change, we should say, more of the historical same please, because sex is great, in the right place, with the one right person.
Paddy you have a basic misunderstanding . Yes happily married couples have sex doesn’t mean they TALK about it . And long term partners are in same boat as married people ( a piece of paper doesn’t make their relationship any less ) . How many openly discuss it with kids growing up ?
@ Mark Collins
No Mark, look at the lineup; Cork feminista, Ray D’Arcy and the vice industries. Anti woman, anti catholic, and anti human, respectively.
What in the world makes you believe married people don’t talk about sex? The Irish were never vocally challenged, and sex is no exception. That again is just nonsense promoted by the deviant. “You can’t talk to your wife, so why not have sex with someone you don’t have to talk to.”
Irishmen and women have, and continue, to discuss sex frequently. They just like to keep their conversations private. Those who like to discuss sex publicly, are those who get little or none.
Amen, liberals diluting our identity as per usual!
@ Paddy Scully. Paddy, I discuss sex publically, I will be speaking at this event. How often in the week constitutes little or no sex? My how’s-you-father schedule is pretty ram-packed (no pun intended) to be honest. We are not advocating Martini sex, “Any Time, Any Place Any Where”. We are advocating an open public discourse on sexual matters. Openess on sexuality is a healthy alternative to that offered by the mea-culpa mafia. As a gay man in a happy relationship, I am sure my sex life deviates from yours. I am sure people with disabilities have a sex life that deviates from mine. Older people probable deviate in position and practise from me. But to call these people’s sex practice’s deviant smacks of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness from a person defending the RCC. Who’d have thought! However, if you can make it along, we’d be happy to hear your views.
Why a discussion, I mean it’s not as if the human race has a problem procreating…….quite the opposite in fact.
“What this article, and the conference, wishes to promote, is deviance”
Sign me up!
As the song Discovery Channel from the Bloodhound gang goes
Love the kind you clean up with a mop and bucket
Like the lost catacombs of Egypt only God knows where we stuck it
Hieroglyphics? Let me be Pacific I wanna be down in your South Seas
But I got this notion that the motion of your ocean means “Small Craft Advisory”
So if I capsize on your thighs high tide, B-5 you sunk my battleship
Please turn me on I’m Mister Coffee with an automatic drip
So show me yours I’ll show you mine “Tool Time” you’ll Lovett just like Lyle
And then we’ll do it doggy style so we can both watch “X-Files.
If it is any of that and with extra kink I’m all for it. Guess that makes me a kinky devient and very proud of it too.
@ Ian Phillip Creaner
Well Ian, your presence completes the lineup of candidates on the liberal side of non-procreative sex.
I’m a believer in the full sexual experience. The person I love, I love completely. I don’t say I love you, but, I don’t want to have children with you!
The statistics are out, married people have more sex. Those who engage in sex as a sport, or as the ultimate expression of narcissism, may have more frequent sex for brief uncommitted periods. But are left wondering why not me, why am I not loved, for long periods of their lives.
I’m afraid your lineup are the Martini sex grouping. The promoters of sex as an end in itself. Enjoy the sad existence. I only hope those with no respect for sex and marriage, don’t get to define what marriage is.
Its sad that the only latin you express, is geared to support the stereotype you wish to establish, with the sole purpose of degrading and lessening the beautiful expression of love and sexuality between a husband and a wife.
I can’t see how I’m self righteous, by promoting that institution, marriage, which is the bedrock of our society, and where most sex takes place.
@ John Everyman
No need to rush John, you are already a spokesman, with secure membership.
Here is a little information that should be considered in conjunction with an article such as this.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/ireland-exposed-as-sex-traffic-centre-272862.html
We trivialise the intimate and family nature of sexuality, and promote “free sex”, as if such promotions are good or modern. What I would suggest is that articles such as this, and meetings such as the one promoted in cork, trivialises our sexuality, and leads to exploitation of persons.
@ Paddy Scully, The problem is when you continue to mix up religious views and true love we will never know what real free enjoyable loving sexual contact feels like and contributes significantly to happy healthy lives.
@ Trevor Patrick Duffy
Well Trevor, I did not present a religious argument, and it is not I, but you who has the religious fixation.
What I’m promoting is exactly “true love”. The kind of love that true humans enjoy, when there is full on commitment to one another; including the openness, or even the desire to complete the love act, and create a new life together. When ones interest is in the completion of the one you love, rather than whose next. When the act of loving is an ongoing act of life, with a natural, open, no barrier, physical expression, which is non selfish in origin.
“Free” love, in its ’60′s form, is just lust. Me, me, me. The natural mental development of a mind fed on pornography.
You let your dislike of religion distance you from the many good aspects of religion, a willingness to serve others, unconditional love, distaste for selfish behaviour, respect for life; all attributes that enhance the act of lovemaking. True lovemaking is indeed a spiritual experience.
Regarding deviance, I can assure you, Paddy, you have nothing to worry about on that score. Cork Feminista signed up to the Turn Off the Red Light campaign, campaigning to criminalize the purchase of sex, a couple of months ago.
Paddy: Even if what you say is true: that a predeliction to discuss sex publicly means that one is getting little or none, I don’t see how it would follow that we should ban a public discussion of sex. If it’s not your cup of tae, don’t go.
@ Paul Carr
Paul I’m very glad to see they signed up to the turn off red light campaign. But their inclusion of sex workers in their conference appears to me to be part of the drive by the red light business to normalise their presence in Ireland, and we know trafficking and abuse go with that business.
I would never suggest the banning of public discussion of sex, and I accept that as a nation we may have been overly prude in the past. But this conference has two or three very positive topics, peppered with dollops of new age spirituality, and liberalism. If I was to get advice from anyone on sexuality, one of my first questions would be, how many children do you and your husband care for?
@ Trevor Patrick Duffy
By the tone of your comment I see you are dismissive of all people of faith. I made no religious arguments here but you are insightful enough to confidently label me a Bigot. No need to ask you, what’s your super power!
Dear Paddy, You do me an honour which is little deserved by my humble self. I hope I added in some small way to the event, but to complete it would be wholely beyond the scope of my influence. I had a lovely time and met interesting people. I didn’t agree with everyone, but so be it. You speak of true love. Do you regard people who express love differently to you as not experiencing true love? You say this type of true love is between true humans. Do you regard people who do not practise your form of love as true humans? Are they lesser than human? Untermenschen? I am truly sorry you felt a lack of Latin in my previous text, but although I hold a post-graduate degree in Lingua Romanorum, I feel anything beyond the commonly known phrases would be out of context here. If you have a desire to read Latin, I can send you some helpful links and suggest books for you.
@ Ian Phillip Creaner
You can be quite the wordsmith when you choose, even if it is a little sarcastic at times.
I believe you, as a gay man, and I, as a heterosexual man; share a common and equal dignity before god and man.
Your question on true love is difficult to answer. I have no doubt that gay men are as capable of feeling love like all humans. But the love they experience is different in many ways, not least of all biologically, to heterosexual encounters. In my understanding the oneness required to create a new human, a core purpose of love, is only achievable with mixed genders. But gay persons have, and should have, the the rights to be together, if that is their desire.
But the core issue in Ireland is whether the love between two gay men could constitute a marriage. In my view no, and this is understood by many gay men.
@ Trevor Patrick Duffy
Well Trevor I don’t accept the definition of bigoted as anyone who disagrees with your personal opinions. Name calling is the new alternative to debate.
With all this world cup rubbish on our tv screens a lot of people will hitting the sack for a bit of nookie
I think the conference is about 20 years too late. A little too passe for me.
@ paddy scully, how the hell do you presume to know what married couples talk about? Because you are married.? Get over yourself you silly little boy!
Let me think what this intimacy might mean – Into – me- see.
Now that is a whole different thing to sex.
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