The generation that promoted free love in the 1960s has grown old and cranky about sex.
Faced with performance problems, menopause blues and an increased mismatch of expectations between the sexes, middle-aged Americans are the unhappiest people of all when it comes to making love, a new Associated Press LifeGoesStrong.com poll shows.
Only 7 percent of people between 45 and 65 describe themselves as extremely satisfied with their sex lives. And nearly a quarter of the middle-aged Americans say they are dissatisfied. Even among seniors, fewer are dissatisfied.
“Older people can learn new tricks,” said Ruth Westheimer, the sex therapist better known as Dr. Ruth. Aging men and women need to work on being “sexual literate — to really know what they need, what their partner needs and how to pleasure each other,” she said.
Younger and older people report better feelings about their sex lives. Some 24 percent in the middle-aged group say they are dissatisfied, compared with only 12 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds, 20 percent of those 30 to 44 and 17 percent of those over 65.
Twenty-eight percent of men between 45 and 65 are dissatisfied, and more than two in five say their sex lives got worse in the last decade.
The poll was conducted last October by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park. It involved online interviews with 945 people between 45 and 65, and companion interviews with other ages. It has a margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for all adults, 3.9 percentage points for adults 45-65.