Increasingly, women in midlife are experiencing divorce and surprisingly, about 66% of midlife divorces are intitiated by the woman. Boomer women are more independent than women of their mother’s generation, often having worked in careers for much of their adult life. The children are grown or mostly grown and although they may have thought about divorce for up to ten years, it is often as they approach their fifth decade that women finally decide to end an unsatisfying marriage.

Getting back into the dating scene is something else altogether. Loneliness is a great fear for women facing divorce in midlife, but many felt lonely during their years of marriage and soon begin to enjoy their new, independent lives. Women tend to have a circle of close friends, and this assuages the loneliness. Still, at some point, both men and women after divorce will consider dating and perhaps, remarriage.

The good news is that according to a survey done by the AARP, most are finding love and happiness after divorce.

During the throes of a difficult divorce, it’s easy to assume that love will never resurface. But it does. The survey found that more than 75 percent of women in their 50s enjoyed a serious, exclusive relationship after their divorce—often within two years. And 81 percent of men in their 50s did the same. In fact, 26 percent of all respondents were dating before their divorce was final.

Read more about the survey at the AARP website.

Besides wondering why women would pay over $7 for a magazine, such as Elle, that is more advertising than content, have you ever wondered why so many products are marketed to women using sexy models? Are women really interested in gazing at photographs of sexy models? Some new research says no, and marketing executives should pay attention.

The study gauged the reactions of women looking at photos of attractive women. The more seductive the model, the more women were uninterested. This hardly seems surprising. It’s been a long standing trend in advertising to use sex to appeal to women as well as men but why do advertisers think women will react to the same stimuli as men?

The trend to use skinny fashion models in sexy poses has been shown to give young girls a distorted image of how they must look to be considered attractive and has led to a rise in eating disorders and other serious problems. It’s encouraging that young women in this study showed a preference for images of more wholesome beauty. Let’s hope advertisers take notice of this research and give us some better images of female beauty and accomplishments.

Read the article on Fox News.

A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive asked 2000 married men and women ages 40 - 70 what was most important in a relationship - health, money or sex. Not surprisingly, sex won with 84%. But half of those who rated sex as the most important aspect of the relationship said they were unsatisfied with their own intimate physical and emotional relationships.

I say it is not surprising because if one stops to consider the survey question and the possible choices, it is only natural that most respondents chose sex. Why?

Because what they really wanted to choose was compatibility and friendship, communication and intimacy. But they weren’t given that choice, so they chose the one aspect of a relationship that employs those things.

It is in this way that surveys and statistics can be arranged to say pretty much anything the survey-taker wants them to. I doubt it would have mattered much if the respondents had answered money or health. Those would make sensational headlines too. “Baby Boomers More Interested in Money than Intimacy”, or how about “Baby Boomers Lose Interest When Spouses Fall Ill”?

Financial woes can put a great strain on a relationship as can ill-health. But they don’t destroy strong relationships where an intimacy of a deeper nature exists. Neither do sexual issues. Men and women both want deeper and more satisfying physical and emotional intimacy, according to the survey. The problem is that the survey lumps all intimacy under the word “sex” and concludes that sex is the most important aspect of a relationship to baby boomers.

I guess you would have to say - I disagree.

Key To Boomer Relationship? - Burlington Free Press