Age is just a number.
Gay and bisexual men over the age of 70 were more likely to report having sex with multiple partners than other groups. This is particularly true among those on social media.
This is according to a study from Great Britain, which found that the number of sexual partners adults have will change over the course of their lives, but that gay and bisexual men over 70 still enjoy active sex lives even as they age.
Their straight counterparts of the same age were said to have become less sexually active.
Published in the Plos One medical journal, the study was funded by the National Institute for Health an
For this study, over 5,000 adults were surveyed during the 2022 mpox outbreak. This study particularly looked at how sexual activity changes with age as it eyed to develop scientific models for sexually transmitted infections. Included among those surveyed were 3,297 from the general population, 1,036 men who have sex with men recruited from Facebook and Instagram, and 831 people responding to Grindr advertisements.
“Before this study, many models about sexually transmitted diseases assumed that everyone over a certain age, say 40 or 65, stopped being sexually active, or at least stopped having multiple partners. Or there might be an assumption that young people have the most sex. But the answer is more nuanced, and it partly depends on people’s sexuality,” lead researcher Dr. Julii Brainard, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said in a statement.
And now – based on the findings – it is now known that:
- 65% of straight women only had one partner in those three weeks up to the age 50. After this, women over 50 were more likely to have had no sexual partners.
- Half of straight men in all age groups reported having one partner in the three weeks prior to taking the survey. However, they were more likely to report zero partners as they aged.
- Having more than one recent partner was uncommon among the general population. However, this was more common among those who responded to the survey via social media.
- 42% of men who have sex with men, and 52% of Grindr respondents, had at least two recent male sexual partners, with that number falling as people aged.
- 17% of men over 70 who have sex with men reported having more than one sexual partner in the three weeks prior to taking the survey. That number rose to 25% for those recruited off social media. Comparatively, only 2% of straight people over 70 reported having multiple partners.
In the end, the researchers hope the data will inform safe sex messaging to start targeting groups that were once ignored.
“Models of disease spread shouldn’t assume that young people are necessarily most at risk or that having multiple partners just stops happening at a strict age threshold,” Brainard ended.
