Re: ‘Parksville is One Sexy City,’ The NEWS, Feb. 10.
The article quotes Sheila Abbott, the owner of Sexessories, as saying with respect to our elderly population: “...these retirees aren’t looking to play bingo or the accordion... these people are a generation from the 60s — peace, sex and love.” Abbott leaves out drugs and rock n’ roll, the other two watchwords of the 60s, but the slick edit allows her to segue into an advertisement for her business.
She would have us believe Parksville’s seniors have nothing better to do than kick back in some sort of pink geriatric haze when they’re not at the bingo hall or strapping on the squeezebox. Of course, she’s referring to these two specific activities in a figurative sense. But make no mistake, the implication is that what seniors do with their time is inconsequential and deserving of a snicker. It makes me want to stick a finger down my throat to see them characterized in such a trivial, condescending manner.
Parksville is a vibrant city, and it is largely so because you will see seniors active in so many ways, from volunteering at soup kitchens or hundreds of other humanitarian endeavours, to golfing, fishing, visiting less mobile friends, square dancing, singing in choirs, dancing at the Legion or local ballroom studio, delivering rocks or bowls at the curling and lawn bowling clubs, playing tennis at Springwood/Community Park etc. Not to say things don’t get a little heated up after bedtime. When they do, I’m sure our lively seniors don’t require the help of a rubber McGuffin or leather accouterments.
Ray ChesinParksville