For some of us entering our late twenties and early thirties, the missed milestones are piling up. Marriage? House? Kids? Nope. And yet the clock keeps ticking - more obnoxiously, perhaps, in the wombs of women. But, as the saying goes, when the going gets tough (and the eggs fewer), the tough get going (sexually, that is).
According to new research from the University of Texas at Austin, women facing declining fertility (ages 27 to 45) are more likely to experience:
- Frequent sexual fantasies
- Thoughts about sexual activities
- More intense sexual fantasies than their younger counterparts
- A more active sex life and willingness to have a one-night stand
- A willingness to have casual sex
The study authors suggest the behavior is rooted in psychological, rather than physiological, pressures. Said graduate student Judith Easton: "It may be more difficult to conceive past the age of 35, but our research suggests women's psychology will continue to motivate them to try until menopause."
Nearly one in five American women passes through her childbearing years without having borne a child, per a 2010 Pew Research Center report. That figure is double what it was only forty years ago.
