A Tasmanian sexologist says people of every age need to be talking more openly about sex, and is calling for increased access to adult sex education.
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Sexologist Haley Krenzke, who offers in-person and online therapy services, said a social reluctance to talk about sex and pleasure resulted in hidden shame and embarrassment.
She said sex education classes for adults could increase healthy discussions about sex.
"Having accessible sex education for all different ages and bodies, that informs about positive and pleasurable sex, and sex that is appropriate for their life-cycle phase, would be really normalising," Ms Krenzke said.
"The sexual experiences of a 50-year-old are vastly different to people in their twenties or thirties, but finding tailored classes for older generations is difficult."
Ms Krenzke said she was often surprised by the lack of knowledge people had about sex.
"I am shocked by the sexual things that the general public don't know. They either haven't been told, or have been told that it is bad, and they hang on to these misconceptions and feel really bad about who they are as sexual beings," Ms Krenzke said.
"As a society on the whole we definitely need to be talking more about sex," she said.
"We need to talk about sex from a pleasure centred focus, and we need to acknowledge that people have sex for a wide-variety of reasons."
Silence about sex leads to negative internalisation
Ms Krenzke said many people felt confused or uncomfortable about not fitting into the socially-accepted and conventional versions of sex.
She said bodies might not function as they should, sexual attractions might differ, or relationships might operate differently from the norm.
"There is a level of embarrassment and shame that exists for a lot of people around who they are as sexual beings," Ms Krenzke said.
"When we as a society put forth one image of what a 'good' sex life looks like, and when people don't fall into that, there is a lot of internalisation," she said.
"People believe they are broken, they believe that they are the problem, and then they don't talk about it."
Ms Krenzke said the impacts of not dealing with sexual issues could run deep.
"People don't see these sexuality concerns as important issues," she said.
"But I have seen a lot of people, either individually or within their relationship, get to a pretty big breaking point."
She used the example of couples arriving in therapy seven years after problems start.
"That is seven years of building resentment, and not having their connection, intimacy or sexual needs met," she said.
"A lot of people really suffer, and they suffer alone. They don't realise that there are places where they can get support, or people that they can talk to about these things."
