My book Elder Sex came out of an article about sex after the age of 70 which was published in the New York Times magazine in January 2022. It’s all the pictures that the Times couldn’t publish. For instance, they couldn’t show any vibrators. America is a puritan country, remember? We have all these uptight evangelicals here. All the friends I asked said no to posing, because there’s so much contempt for the subject of elder sex. It’s treated as a joke. So the Times did the casting call and I picked my models from that. I wanted real bodies, and I tried to get every race and every size. They had thought about using professional models but – how do I say this delicately? – the models just didn’t look their age. So we used actors, which also meant they could convincingly act intimate and in love. I’m 74, so they were all just a few years older than me. I wanted to make them look good. They’re not perfect bodies, but this is everybody’s future, and I wanted to show it is not this dismal, barren place. Sex is a natural human instinct that doesn’t go away. My thoughts when approaching the project were that, first, in all of history, people have never before been so healthy at that age. Second, people didn’t have Viagra before. And third, there has never been such easy access to sex toys. In Walmart recently I saw male vibrators in the cosmetics aisle – it blew my mind. Our models were all in lingerie. The Times wouldn’t have let me shoot them naked – but then most people play dress-up on a special night or afternoon. The interesting thing – and it came as a real shock – was that all the signifiers of ageing just didn’t exist in the close-ups. I had to make sure to include their neck and hair, just so you could tell they were in their 70s. Where you age is your neck, your hands and your thighs; the parts that haven’t been in the sun looked young. Most of the women’s boobs and their butts weren’t wrinkled at all. Especially if they were people of colour. I had to make them push the skin to get wrinkles! In the article, a lot of people said that they are currently having the best sex they’ve ever had. Having been together for a long time, they know what pleases their partner and what pleases themselves, and they don’t give a shit any more about being performative. When the models all arrived at the studio I told them that they were going to be pioneers and we were giving permission to people not to reject their sexual feelings. The only caution was tripping over all the different electrical cords, but nobody did. We shot over five days and we had so much fun. It was one of the easiest shoots we’ve ever been on; we all said it. I shoot behind glass a lot. I think the distortion creates metaphor; there’s a mystery to everything I shoot. I have a team I’ve worked with for 15 years: one person jets the steam, another two do the wipes. I point to where to wipe on the glass, and then I only have about six seconds to shoot through it before it steams up again. And my subjects really can’t see me at all, so they’re not self-conscious. I know it works because I’ve been shooting portraits this way for years. I can find the unguarded moment all the time. Marilyn Minter’s Elder Sex is published by JBE Books Marilyn Minter’s CV Born: 1948, Shreveport, Louisiana Trained: “I was badly trained at University of Florida and Syracuse University.” Influences: “Everyone in art history.” High point: “I think right now!?” Low point: “Right after I did pro-sex porn paintings in 1989 and was panned for it.” Top tip: “Listen to your inner voice and follow it. Expand on what already comes easy to you.”