are single women sex-starved?

When it comes to sex, single women have all kinds of ways of dealing with—and without—it. A relatively low number, just 22 percent, of the 45-plus single women in AARP's "Sexuality at Midlife and Beyond" study were sexually active in the past six months, and only 18 percent had a regular sex partner. But either way, they weren't hung up about it. "After age 50 a number of single women want fun sex," says author Levine. "This is a no-holds-barred period of their lives—they're more sexually adventurous and easygoing, and while sex isn't the biggest deal in the world, they're more willing to take pleasure when it comes." Of the single women in AARP's sexuality study, 15 percent had watched adult films with a partner, 14 percent had used sex toys, 10 percent had had phone sex, and 7 percent had exchanged frisky notes or e-mails. And in the past six months 26 percent had masturbated.

But sexual urges aren't the main driving force for single women dating, at least in the same way they are for men. Some 11 percent of the men in the AARP lifestyles, dating, and romance survey, for instance, said the main reason they date is to fulfill their sexual needs, versus a mere 2 percent of the women. And 24 percent of single women in the same survey agreed that they could be happy never having sex again.