Virginia Ironside: Why not go on forever, if you want

Sexual liberation after 70 does seem logical. The sexual revolution started in the late Fifties so it's understandable that the hedonists of the Sixties should still be swinging now. When I was young it was natural for people to move into separate beds at 40. But now, with greater openness – and, no doubt, with the help of the odd pill – why not go on forever, if you can and if you want to?

Sex changes as you get older and can be more relaxed and less frantic. As a sex therapist told me: "Travelling is sometimes better than arriving." While it's true that many post-monopausal women find sex painful, there are ways to overcome this, at least for some. And while men often find it difficult to get an erection and achieve orgasm, in between, they can last longer.

For those still banging the same drum, it's great they can still get it on while their hearts are still beating. But, quite honestly, like many of my contemporaries, I've had enough sex with enough different partners to last me a lifetime. A brief survey revealed that many seem to agree with Sophocles who, on being asked, as an old man, whether he had sex, replied: "Heaven forbid! I was only too glad to escape from all that, as though from a boorish and insane master."

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