Sex, Death and Other Inspiring Stories

Book excerpt: Rose Rouse, a journalist, and Suzanne Noble, a serial entrepreneur– created Advantages of Age out of a conversation in a hot tub in 2016. ‘We didn’t like how we were being depicted in the media as we got older.’ Advantages of Age is a social enterprise designed to passionately challenge the prevailing negative stereotypes around ageing. No, we’re not all grandparents, some of us are over 50, single and childless. We don’t wish to be defined by the reductive headlines we see around us. We are writers, filmmakers, singers, press officers, death doulas, psychotherapists and so much more. We are not all retired. We surf, play tennis, lift weights. We have sex, we don’t have sex. We have partners, we don’t have partners. We’re an eclectic bunch. In this collection of essays gathered from seven years of commissioning, AoAers share their thoughts on life, love, sex, death, adventures on their terms, lockdown and everything in between. ‘We hope we’re doing our bit to re-define and re-frame what getting old means.’