JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The next sex talk you have may not be with your teenagers, but with your parents.
It is the new sexual revolution, only this time your grandparents are "getting it on". With the help of a little blue pill, seniors are hitting the dating scene and they're discovering it's dangers.
"Mary" is a 68-year-old Jacksonville resident and a grandmother. She didn't want us to show her face, but she did want to share her story.
Mary just found out she's HIV positive.
"I made them do three tests because I didn't believe it," she says.
After a career, marriage and kids, Mary started dating. But she says things have changed in the last few decades.
"When you're out having fun, you don't think about things. You trust the person you're with," she says. "I know this is something I have to live with for the rest of my life."
"More people are dating again," explains Dr. Max Wilson, from the Duval County Health Department. "The last time they were dating, HIV wasn't the problem it is now. And it's in our area."
Mary is part of the growing trend in Northeast Florida. Right now, more than 1,600 people over 50 are living with HIV and AIDS in our area, and most are right in Jacksonville.
Sharon Carasquillo is 70 and a grandmother. She will be the first to tell you that she's lead a wild life and old age hasn't slowed her down. Sharon admits she loves sex, but says many seniors, especially women, are looking for more than a one night stand.
"You have people who have been with their partners for 50 years and that person leaves," Sharon says. "They [are] lonely and get promiscuous and things happen; [...] even those who think they're being careful [aren't] careful enough."
Action News spoke with one woman who's afraid to tell her daughter she's HIV positive. She thinks she'll be cut off from her grandchildren.
"A lot of people won't even touch you," the woman says. "They don't want to hug you, especially in the black community."
And HIV positive seniors are much more likely to feel cut-off from society, forced to spend their golden years depressed and alone.
Mary and Sharon want others to learn from their mistakes. They're two women with different stories, but now on the same path. They are victims of the new sexual revolution.
"One day, there is going to be a cure," says Sharon. "That don't mean I'm going to be around to see it."
"It is all about the living not about the dying, I like that concept," says Mary.
Their message; safe sex is great sex, at any age.
