HomeSexuality & techniquesMale sexualityAge is the foremost factor affecting male responsiveness

Age is the foremost factor affecting male responsiveness

Age is the foremost factor affecting male responsiveness

Factors that affect men’s orgasm frequencies include their age, the age at which they reached adolescence as well as their level of education.

Age is far and away the most significant factor in male sexual performance. [i] Men are most sexually active in late adolescence. Thereafter their responsiveness declines very gradually. A significant upside to this aging process is that older men are able to spend longer enjoying sexual activity.

As men age, the frequency of their early morning erections decreases. Also the time over which they can maintain an erection reduces (from an average of over one hour in late teens to 7 minutes for 66 to 70-year-olds). The angle of elevation of the erect penis varies considerably between individuals but also reduces as a man ages. The average position for all ages is slightly above the horizontal. Around 15-20% carry the penis at 45⁰ above the horizontal while 8-10% of men have an erection tight against the body.

Some men, particularly the less educated, refer to women, who may be sexually available, as chick (US), bird (UK) or sheila (Australia). Men covet an attractive woman as if she is sexual property (or sex object). So why do young women accept older lovers? Why do they not want a young man who is not only more attractive but also more responsive? Women are attracted more by the lifestyle a man provides than by his sexual talents.

Men often assume that women with years of experience will be less enthusiastic about sex. Men gravitate towards younger women not just because of their attractiveness but because they are more amenable. Naivety and inexperience cause young women to be more easily impressed and exploited. Men’s sex drive and their arousal gives them a natural authority in obtaining the erotic stimuli and physical stimulation they need from lovemaking. So there is no advantage to a woman being sexually experienced.

Men assume that a woman is always aroused and willing to engage in intercourse. Yet men will only engage in sexual activity either when they have an erection or when they are confident of being able to achieve one. Young men can be like a wound-up spring and persistently hassling a partner for sex. It is easier for an older man to accommodate a woman’s sporadic sexual interest. I have found the quality and variety of sex play has increased over the years but the frequency has remained at a similar level.

Male impotence is relatively rare until old age. At 70 years of age only 27% of white men are impotent but by 80 this has increased to 3 out of 4. The continuing amenability of a man’s partner is doubtless also a factor.

[i] In the sexual history of the male, there is no other single factor which affects frequency of outlet as much as age. (Alfred Kinsey)

Excerpt from Sexuality & Sexual Techniques (ISBN 978-0956-894724)