Abstract
An effort to co-explore later life sexuality with older adults, this study critically reflects on a series of intentionally designed activities to discuss intimacy and sexual pleasure in a care context. Five activities were organised in a Belgian care home, involving four to six female residents, that gradually introduced a more explicit language about sexual health. The results highlight that: 1) taboos are difficult to discuss, therefore storytelling is crucial, 2) feeling vulnerable is confronting, but also enables genuine connections, and 3) co-exploring taboos through playfulness, while enabling self-expression. This paper provides a more in-depth understanding of designing collective dialogues on sensitive topics by proposing a set of design suggestions. Future research should consider how care staff and family members can be meaningfully involved in these interventions, designed to challenge taboos, without compromising residents’ agency.
Keywords
Taboo, design research, ageism, sexuality, care homes
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1001
Citation
Lefévre, Y., Hendriks, N., Wilkinson, H., Wilkinson, A., and Verhoeven, A.G. (2026) Longing for: Designing activities to break the taboo of female sexuality in care homes, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1001
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Longing for: Designing activities to break the taboo of female sexuality in care homes
An effort to co-explore later life sexuality with older adults, this study critically reflects on a series of intentionally designed activities to discuss intimacy and sexual pleasure in a care context. Five activities were organised in a Belgian care home, involving four to six female residents, that gradually introduced a more explicit language about sexual health. The results highlight that: 1) taboos are difficult to discuss, therefore storytelling is crucial, 2) feeling vulnerable is confronting, but also enables genuine connections, and 3) co-exploring taboos through playfulness, while enabling self-expression. This paper provides a more in-depth understanding of designing collective dialogues on sensitive topics by proposing a set of design suggestions. Future research should consider how care staff and family members can be meaningfully involved in these interventions, designed to challenge taboos, without compromising residents’ agency.