SocraticGadfly: ‘You’ve come a long way in the bedroom, baby’

October 28, 2008

‘You’ve come a long way in the bedroom, baby’

Riffing on Virginia Slims’ old slogan about women’s smoking habits, women are rapidly gaining on men in the infidelity department.

The effect is most notable, interestingly, among oldsters. From 1991 to 2006, the lifetime (note that, please) infidelity rate among men older than 60 moved from 20 to 28 percent, an increase of 40 percent. For women, it jumped a whopping 200 percent from 5 to 15 percent.

That said, all such sexual self-reporting should be taken with a grain of salt. Men over-report and women under-report average numbers of sexual partners; the same may be true here, and the gap even closer.

With women, changing social mores, testosterone supplements for older women and more cosmetic surgeries, as well as better late-life health, may all be involved. Read the full story for more.

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