The Perils and Pleasures of Aging: How Women’s Sexualities Change across the Life Course

Abstract

Prior literature on aging and sexuality primarily portrays narratives of sexual decline, often leading to a pathologization of older adult sexuality. Further attention needs to be paid to the positive consequences of aging on people’s romantic and sex lives. Using life story interview data with 39 single women ages 35–91, I examine how women’s romantic and sex lives change over time. The major barriers that middle-aged and older adult women report are a small dating pool and caregiving responsibilities, but women also highlight improvements in their sex lives as they age. Notably, women report an increase in comfort with sex, sexual assertiveness, and sexual satisfaction. The findings further highlight the need for aging, gender, and sexuality scholars to supplement their discussions of aging as a problem with investigations of the advantages of the aging process.