What (middle aged) men want?

It is one of the enduring stereotypes that men want sex, and engage in intimacy because they reckon that that is what makes women happy. That foreplay is like rites of passage so that men can get to the "real thing" for them, which is supposed to be intercourse.

However, stereotypes, specially the enduring ones need to be interrogated from time to time. And the interrogation of this one takes us to 2011 and the archives of Kinsey Institute, the global leader in academic research in sex. A paper titled, "Sexual Satisfaction and Relationship Happiness in Midlife and Older Couples in Five Countries," by Heiman et al, investigated what predicts relationship satisfaction among men and women in their fifties.

Interestingly, and of course counterintuitively, relationship satisfaction among men is predicted by health, physical intimacy and sexual functioning, while among women it is only sexual functioning!

We pause here, to let you take it in.

And of course the findings are so counterintuitive that some of you might want to read the paper yourself, and indeed you can do so from here. Also, you can take your own intimacy, sex, and relationship satisfaction self-assessment right here!