Research refutes the pervasive cultural myth of asexual old age. Men and women continue to be physiologically capable of sexual functioning throughout old age, although interest in and actual sexual activity decline with age in most older persons. Older men are more interested in sex and more active sexually than older women. Women, particularly postmarital women, report masturbating, with frequency declining with age. Homosexual relationships have been suggested for older women, since unmarried women over 65 outnumber men of the same age by four to one. This alternative has not been adequately explored through research.