It’s Like Riding a Bike

A new University of Chicago study released recently shows that people well into their seventies are still physically intimate. This has occasioned every reaction imaginable, from a resurgence of the “elderly sex” jokes to serious advice from medical professionals (and the predictable “ewww” from a teenager I know, but he’d react that way to the idea of anyone coupling over the age of twenty-five.) I decided to conduct my own highly unscientific survey of my female friends, most of whom belong to an increasingly large group of single women between forty and sixty. A minority of those who are currently enjoying intimate relations thought the news unsurprising. These liberated (and lucky) ladies are having the times of their lives, which may account for their unbridled optimism. The vast majority of my gal pals are not having intimate relations and I wondered whether this survey gave them reason to hope or despair. Actually, it gave them reason to laugh. Apparently the idea of having sex at seventy when you’re not having it at forty, fifty or sixty is funny. Still, senior Lotharios can take heart, that is, if they intend to date women in their age range. Most of my friends think the idea of getting it on in the twilight years sounds great in theory, providing they can (a) find a partner and (b) still remember how.