Caitlin Green

Coming up after the break, most people think romance retires at age 65.

They're wrong.

After the break, we're talking about dating, desire, and why seniors are swiping right on the apps, not just for companionship, but for intimacy too.

So up next, why your granny has game.

Does romance have an expiration date?

Does physical intimacy stop for older folks somewhere between needing reading glasses and enjoying the early bird special?

Well, it doesn't seem to retire.

That's according to a new study that suggests sex and intimacy stay central to our lives even into our 80s.

I'm here with someone who's worked on that study.

Her name is Lauren Harris, and she is a human development and family studies professor at the University of New Hampshire.

Lauren, thank you for being here.

I think problem number one that a lot of us have, and I've probably fallen guilty to it, I'm not proud to say, we tend to kind of desexualize older adults culturally.

Where does that idea even come from?

Especially with your study showing it's kind of not true.

Well, I think that's the crux of it, right?

Also, the old people that we have in our life when we're young are our parents and our grandparents.

And these are not people we tend to want to sexualize at all.

So what are people, let's say, into their 60s and beyond, what are they saying about sex and their romantic relationships?

Are they saying, nah, it's not something we do anymore, or are they saying that it's important?

So there's effectively no shift in the view of a romantic relationship that I expect younger people would have.