Senior Sexpots

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 13, 2001 | by Gabriella Boston, | Jennifer Harper, | Robert Stacy McCain

Things are hotter than usual at one Arizona retirement community, where senior citizens are getting overly amorous in swimming pools, parked cars and even golf carts. Swinging at Sun City West, apparently, has little to do with 5-irons and big bands.

It's not like the good residents have turned the spot into Sodom and Gomorrah. So far, there only have been two dozen sightings in the last 19 months. But some have been troublesome. "After one incident, we had to drain one of the pools completely and add new chemicals and so forth," sighs Mauryne Hall, spokeswoman for Sun City's $70 million recreational-center complex, which sees to the playful needs of the 31,000 residents, all between 55 and 103 years old (the average age is 70). "And we have notified the sheriff's office. A sheriff's posse has actually spotted a few of these encounters."

Last year, an AARP survey found that it is a "myth" that older folks no longer enjoy the sexual activities of their salad days. The association found that more than six in 10 men between age 45 and 59, and a similar number of women, reported they had weekly relations; one in four persons older than 75 reported similar frequency. In the last five years, other studies have claimed "senior sex" helped the memory, circulation and mental outlook, among other things.