Pleasure Doesn’t Care About Wrinkles (Season 6 | Episode 243) with Joan Price Welcome to another episode of the Open Nesters podcast, where Amir and I trade our empty nest for an open one filled with vibrant health, relationships, and endless possibilities. This week, I had the absolute honor of sitting down with Joan Price, an 82-year-old senior sex expert and an incredible advocate for aging and sexuality. Joan brings such a refreshing, realistic, and wildly open perspective to what she calls “Act Three”—the stage of life where we are getting older but are absolutely still entitled to rich, fulfilling intimacy. Pleasure Doesn’t Care About Wrinkles with Joan Price In my fifties, I still felt incredibly sensual and sexual, but as I entered my sixties, I started experiencing unexpected setbacks, including breaking my neck in a car crash. Joan completely validated these physical realities, reminding us that as we age, our bodies simply change. From the aches and joint pains that make certain physical positions impossible, to the very real physiological shifts that cause arousal to take longer and lubrication to decrease, these hurdles are completely normal. 3:01 Bodies Change, Desire Adapts 6:12 Injury, Healing, and Intimacy 10:00 Embracing New Pleasure 15:44 Rethinking Orgasm 18:11 Ageless Erotica Unveiled 22:16 Body Image and Worth 27:48 Sex After Grief 32:54 Courage with Age But normal doesn’t mean the end of pleasure; it just requires a profound shift in our attitude and expectations. Joan emphasizes that we must let go of the judgment, the blaming, and the unrealistic goal of trying to recreate the exact kind of sex we had in our twenties. Instead, this chapter of life is about opening our minds to a completely new, expansive world of receiving and experiencing pleasure. A major part of this new chapter involves communication, which can be daunting if you’ve never had to explicitly ask for what you need before. Joan pointed out that if intercourse is no longer pleasurable or even possible, we must be brave enough to tell our partners exactly what our aging bodies require now. Our brains need to consciously connect with our bodies, asking them to show us what they need, and then we must boldly share those discoveries with our lovers. One of the most liberating ways to explore these changing needs is through solo sex. Joan is a massive proponent of self-pleasure, explaining that taking the time to explore your own body alone allows you to intimately understand how your arousal patterns have shifted over the years. Giving yourself permission to experiment with solo touch is not only perfectly healthy, but it’s often the foundational step to communicating your evolving desires to a partner. When it comes to discovering new sensations, Joan is also a vocal advocate for integrating high-quality sex toys into your routine. She advised us to ditch the old, poorly made novelties of the past and invest in well-designed, body-safe toys, like a specifically chosen vibrator. Whether used alone or with a partner, these tools can quite literally be the difference between having an orgasm and not having one. Speaking with Joan was a profound reminder that pleasure truly does not have an expiration date. I highly encourage all of our listeners, whether you are single or partnered, to check out her website and dive into her groundbreaking books, including the wonderful anthology Ageless Erotica. We don’t have to quietly close the door on our sexuality as we age; instead, we can step boldly into this new act, open our minds, and write an entirely new, beautiful chapter of intimacy. Ultimately, we need to completely redefine what a successful sexual encounter looks like. Joan challenges the deeply ingrained societal idea that sex must always lead to intercourse or a specific, standardized type of climax. Instead, we should embrace exploring arousal slowly, enjoying lower-pressure intimacy, and relishing the long, sensual buildup without demanding a specific finish line. About Tessa Tessa Krone is the engine behind and the face of The Open Nesters. Tessa holds an MA in Consciousness Studies and is a speaker, coach, program, and journey facilitator & leader, author, and, of course, Podcaster. Her offerings are based on her mission to help people open to their most self-expressed, loving selves. Tessa’s specialties include embodiment from all the senses and elements of our inner and outer lives, ranging from mindfulness, dance, play, and sensory exploration in nature. If she had one superpower, it would be to help people, especially as they age, to live more open-hearted lives. Please email Tessa to make a connection. And visit her page here on the Open Nesters Website. If you like, please answer the question: What do you need to OPEN your NEST? In your LIFE. In your BODY. In your SPIRIT. Do you need MORE… Adventure Freedom of Expression Exploration and Fun Body Movement New circles of friends Deep love relationships