Is this a real thing? Do women really have a "peak" around 30 (or around 40, according to Al)? Is it all downhill for men after age 18?

Okay, we all know teenage boys are horndogs, but how true is the rest of it? Are there studies that show that women have an actual hormonal change around 30 that leads to ... hmm. There's another issue. What's a "peak," anyway? More orgasms? Higher sex drive? More stamina?

I'm not trying to be skeptical; I just don't know if this is an urban legend or something that's true. For me personally, I was a lot hornier ten years ago than I am now, so I'm wondering about this whole peak business.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Answers

I found a couple of answers --

http://www.loveadvice.com/COL_3798.HTM

Dr. Tracy (??) claims it's because "A woman reaches her real sexual pinnacle in her early thirties. By then, she's had experience, feels comfortable with her sexuality, knows what she wants and doesn't want, and is an expert at sexual fulfillment."

http://www.women.com/sex/experts/sexpert/c0605sex2.html

This one says it was Kinsey who first reported that women in their mid-30s reported having more orgasms than any time previously.

I'm 35 -- my sex life is great, but it has been for a long time. So maybe it'll get better. I'm okay with that.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Okay. That's what I was wondering -- whether the "women peak at 30" thing had to do with confidence and experience rather than something biological.

I have a feeling that the peaking-at-30 phenomenon won't hold true for a lot of younger women. Women are more open about sex at a younger age now. I know that I personally am a lot more self- conscious now than I was ten years ago, which is entirely due to the extra 15 pounds I'm carrying around. Sad, but true. Sex was better when I didn't worry about sucking in my stomach or doing it in the dark.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

There also might be other reasons. For those who opt to have children, usually if they have children in their twenties, by the mid- thirties to early forties they don't have to be worried by being interrupted by those children. When the kids themselves are in their teens, they tend to respect their parents' privacy. (Unless they're autistic, but that's my own personal bias and slant on it...)

So the newfound privacy might lead to more sexual experimentation and second honeymooning...

Nevertheless, I think there may be a biological timetable to this, having, ummm, observed it in action. (Of course, a sample space of one is meaningless, but still...) Just like you can hardly miss the horniness of the average teenage boy, there certainly was an upping of the sexual drive at age forty, to answer your question about what makes a "peak", Beth. (Maybe it was as early as thirty-five, but I don't think so...not in our case.) It was as if an engine that had always performed competently and effectively was suddenly kicked into overdrive!

...And I'm not complaining one bit.

--Al of NOVA NOTES.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

Well, I for one have been getting steadily hornier since about 13. And every year since about 16, I think, "GEEZ. If I'm this horny NOW, how am I going to take the steady increase until I hit 35??" It has yet to drive me nutty. But I'm always slightly surprised that it still hasn't;). So I really hope I peak at 35. One wouldn't want to just keep going.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001

I tell my husband, though, that if I peak anymore he'll have a heart attack, because he's 12 years older than I am. I'd heard women peak at 40, so he'll be 52, and he better have a strong heart! He then proceeded to buy a sybian, lazy man.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001

Many of you ladies may be shocked to hear this, but once you are in bed with a guy it really doesn't matter what you look like past that point. I certainly wouldn't worry about having to suck in your stomach. That's just silly. ;)

I can't say I was any hornier at 18 than I am now. Althought sex really wasn't an option then, so it *seemed* like I was hornier. I'm certainly looking forward to my wife's peak though, assuming there's any truth to the matter.

-- Anonymous, May 15, 2001