Sex after 40?: Gender, ageism, and sexual partnering in midlife

This article examines the relationship between gender and heterosexual partnering in midlife, using survey data from 1240 women and men aged 40 to 59. Although older ages are associated with lower numbers of sexual partners for both genders, larger proportions of women report having no partners, and at earlier ages than men. Sexual conservatism and non-cohabitation predict lower numbers of partners for both genders, albeit in different ways. Age's differential effects by gender are not reducible to greater conservatism among older cohorts of women or to age-gender patterns in cohabitation, suggesting that ageism and sexism combine to middle-aged women's particular disadvantage.