42 percent reporting regular orgasms

You would normally expect women to have higher rates of female sexual dysfunction as they get older but a new study has shown that in fact women over the age of 80 can sometimes have very satisfying sex lives! The study which looked at the results of a questionnaire sent to 1,300 women and answered by over 800 of them shows that women below the age of 55 and above the age of 80 reported the most satisfaction with sex. The study authors however pointed out that sexual satisfaction in many of the old women was possibly a result of intimacy and emotional closeness as opposed to actual sexual penetration.

The results of the study also showed that almost half of all women below the age of 55 reached orgasm most of the time or always and the next highest percentage of women who also reported the same was the more than 80 age group with 42 percent reporting regular orgasms. Another finding of the study was that of the 800 women who replied to the survey 50 percent of them said that they had been sexually active over the previous month with either a partner or through masturbation.  Around 1/3 the women said that they had female sexual dysfunction in the form of very low sexual desire or no sexual desire at all.

The authors of the study Doctors Susan E. Trompeter, Ricki Bettencourt and Elizabeth Barrett-Connor all from the University of California did point out that their research should be approached with caution because it only represented a small cross section of society and was not therefore representative of all women.

This study which can be seen in full in the American Journal of Medicine might make some older women sit up and think that a good sexual relationship for them is not purely just about vigorous penetrative sex. Older men should also take note of this and before they run off to get a prescription for Viagra they should consider the emotional and intimate aspects of sex too.