Overview

Six years ago on the occasion of my seventieth birthday, I published a column about the passage of time in a forum for doctors. One man asked me: sorry to ask, but I'm curious, does a woman of a certain age still feel any sexual desire? I wrote back: Why do you write "still" about sex? Sex is the same life function as other functions. Doctors should use arguments based on Evidence-Based Medicine, so I find interesting reports in Medline: Older Women in New Romantic Relationships: Understanding the Meaning and Importance of Sex in Later Life by W.K. Watson et al. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 14 women between the ages of 64 and 77 about their sexuality in their older years. Even though sex might not have held the same priority as when they were younger, it held a place of importance in their romantic relationships – the author wrote as a conclusion. My summary for a curious man was: a woman is also a human being who is kept alive by a set of the same vital functions that occur in men. The number of breaths, the heart rate, the length of sleep, the effects of digestion, and finally sexual activity are all individually variable, but this is a set that we all have at our disposal. Defects happen in both sexes and are not necessarily age-related.