Sex/uality Artifacts

Danielle Friedrich

Today in class I showed a video clip from the TV Show “Scrubs”. The video clip was of Elliot and Carla, two female leads in the show, and Dr. Cox, a male lead in the show, discussing two patients test results. Elliot and Carla ran several tests on the couple, but all the tests came back negative. Dr. Cox realized they didn’t test the couple for any STDs and immediately sent an order to get them tested. When the test results came back, the doctors found that the couple had Syphilis. At the end of the video clip, one of the nurse’s went to deliver the news to the couple since the other doctors weren’t able to do so. Upon entering the room, Carla told the nurse that he didn’t have to do it because she already did and that the couple told her all about their sexual activities.

This clip is an example of how the elderly population tends to be overlooked as sexual beings. This clip is also an example of how doctors seem to overlook STDs as a possible diagnosis in the elderly populations due to the misconstrued idea that they do not engage in sexual activities. The article, The Unexplored Story of HIV and Aging, stated that many older individuals everywhere are sexually active, although interest in sex and frequency of vaginal intercourse decline with age. This shows that even though the older population’s sexual activity declines, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t still partaking in sexual activities on a regular basis. Another example from the article on how the clip relates is that the article discusses how there is a failure to consider STDs as a cause for illness in older adults. In the clip, Carla and Elliot didn’t even test the couple for an STD because it didn’t cross their mind. This shows that even doctors, who should be highly educated, still don’t think of the elderly population as people who partake in sexual activities. Dr. Cox realized that Carla and Elliot didn’t test the couple for any STDs and realized right away, as if it was the easiest thing, that the couple needed to be tested for possible STDs. This shows that most people do not see the elderly population as sexual beings, whereas others, few, do. The article talks about how screening for STDs is less common for older adults because they are assumed to not be at risk.

Scrubs, STDs, and the Elderly TV Show Clip: