Free love is still in the air for sexy Baby Boomers, according to a new British survey examining the mating habits of singles over 50.

 

The survey, conducted by British Boomer site wanobe.com in conjunction with its online dating partner, European matching service PARSHIP.co.uk., asked 1,000 men and women between the ages of 50 and 65 various questions regarding dating habits and sexuality.

 

Results revealed that over a third (37 percent) of Boomers are willing to have sex on the first date, making them twice as likely as members of Generation X (those under 40) to do so (18 percent). However, of Boomer women who stated they would be willing to say yes that first night, three-quarters (76 percent) would only do so if courted with a proper dinner first, expecting their dates to pick up the tab.

 

In addition, more than half of Boomers (53 percent) rated lust and passion above marriage, while less than 1 in 10 (7 percent) hope their next relationship will lead to marriage. Nearly one-third (32 percent) of thirty-something singles hope to marry.

 

Boston based sex therapist and author, Aline P. Zoldbrod, Ph.D. tells demo dirt, “This little study is evidence that people in their 50's and up are still sexual beings, not just interested in quiet, staid pursuits, and in being good citizens, giving back to society, and [in being] generous grandmothers and fathers. (Nothing wrong with those things, but they are sex-less. And look, we're not!!!)”

 

Zoldbrod adds that, despite the fact that many Boomers are indeed grandparents, they should continue to value their roles as sexual creatures. “There is fire in those not-so-firm loins still. The face ages, and the body ages, but the life force is still in there. Sexual energy is a powerful reinvigorating way to renew oneself, to affirm one's aliveness.”

 

Are the contrasting values between Boomers and Gen X merely a function of life stage, or are social factors—like the former having come-of-age in free loving hippiedom versus the latter hitting puberty under the dark cloak of AIDS—at work?

 

According to syndicated advice columnist and dating coach Lisa Daily, “Boomers know what they want, and they're not waiting around to get it. Boomers are more likely to sleep with someone on the first date because of the combination of the life stage they're in and ‘free love’ values from their youth. When you take children, marriage and finances out of the equation, all you have left is sex, romance and friendship.”

 

Single Boomers generally want to stay single, Daily adds, and after age 60, people just don't have the same "hang-ups" about sex that plagued them in their younger years.

 

The study also examined attitudes about age differences and dating. A majority of 50-something survey respondents (60 percent) stated that they don’t care what their children think of their dates, with nearly 1 in 5 (18 percent) saying they would happily date someone at least 10 years younger. Boomers surveyed were also quite flirtatious, being three times as likely as twenty-something Generation Yers to flirt with a total stranger.  “At this stage in their romantic lives, they're more likely to seek companionship and sex, without worrying about whether their partner might make a good long-term mate,” and, Daily tells demo dirt, “Boomers are less inclined to worry about what other people might think.”

 

The takeaway message of this study is that men and women over 50 continue to exist as sexual beings, despite popular media images portraying the contrary, says Zoldbrod, herself a Baby Boomer. “We're not dead yet. And even if we don't look like movie stars, we still recognize that we can feel pleasure in our bodies.”

 

Boomers shouldn’t allow age to create insecurities that could rob them of their sexual confidence, desire, or sense of satisfaction. “Older bodies do not function the way younger bodies do, and still, sex is pleasurable. You don't have to have the same earth shattering orgasm that you would have had in your twenties, thirties, or forties for sex to be good,” Zoldbrod continues.

 

And, good news for health-conscious Boomers—sexual healing is for real. “I've seen research studies which…find a correlation between sexuality and feelings of well being and general health,” adds Zoldbrod.

 

Is this the dawn of a second sexual awakening? We’ll see, as sex therapist Zoldbrod cheers, “Let's hear it for our next version of the sexual revolution. Go boomers.”