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LOVE, MARRIAGE, SEX AND AGING: MALE SEXUALITY
Kinsey and Masters and Johnson found that the frequency of a man\'s erections and orgasms slowly begins to decline very early, after his late teens. The Duke, Consumers Union, and Baltimore studies show that this regular, decade-by-decade decline continues after age fifty.
The seventies seem to be sexually crucial for many men. In the Duke study, about three-fourths of the men in their sixties were still having intercourse; many indicated their sexual interest was high. But during their seventies most gave up intercourse. The number reporting a high or moderate sex drive also dropped dramatically during these ten years.
The reason seems to be poor health. In their seventies many men began to suffer from diseases. Illness is what tends to greatly dampen a man\'s libido and his ability to perform.
On the other hand, the seventies are far from a sexual death knell. In the Duke study, half of the men in their eighties had sexual feelings. One-fifth was having intercourse. And even when men (and women) have severe physical problems, they still can have a passionate sex life.
The husband is seventy-six and the wife seventy-four. They recently celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. . . . The husband reports that communications between he [sic] and his wife are very good. . . . Having sexual intercourse together, however, is impossible. Because his wife has a spastic paralysis, she cannot spread her legs. . . . \"So,\" he explains, \"we\'ve had to devise an alternative. . . . But it works!\" And when occasionally we achieve coincidental orgasms, it\'s as satisfactory as when we were in our twenties. It\'s a cooperative effort—a kind of mutually contrived double masturbation.\" . . . The two have sex together this way about three times a month. She reaches orgasm about 75% of the time, he about half the time. ... He has enjoyed a variety of sexual activities with his wife since age fifty; undressing her; having her undress him, mutual oral sex, mutual masturbation, manually stimulating her clitoris during sex. ... He enjoys it when she stimulates his breasts and nipples but he does not stimulate her breasts and nipples because she \"had double mastectomy. ... So this is one activity we both regret we cannot perform.\" Love as well as sex has survived this husband\'s erectile problems and his wife\'s spastic paralysis and double mastectomy. . . . After more than fifty years of marriage ... he adds \"love curve is still upward!\"
As long as a man stays interested in sex he can enjoy sex, even with physical problems that rule out normal intercourse. The real fear, though, is not so much losing interest as (put bluntly) no longer being able to \"get it up.\" Realistically, here are the physical changes to expect.
*58/159/5*
GENERAL HEALTH
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