admin
No sex please, we’ll settle for a nice dinner instead.
Former football star Gary Lineker has lifted the lid on a taboo subject by admitting he isn’t interested in scoring between the sheets.
In his role as the smiling, Walkers crisp-eating face of liberal Britain, BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker uses his Twitter feed to rail against everything from Donald Trump and Brexit through to fox-hunting.
Recently, though, the former England striker broached a subject that really was taboo. In an interview, twice-divorced Lineker made a startling admission for a man still considered one of Britain’s most eligible bachelors.
He was, he said, no longer bothered about sex or dating. “It’s a stupid and horrible thing to say in a way, but I’m not massively into sex,” the 59-year-old said. “I’ve had the odd (date). But I’m straight right from the start. I say, ‘I don’t want a relationship; a nice dinner’s fine.’”
Unlike Lineker’s anti-Brexit comments, which get approvingly retweeted millions of times, this latest gem did not spark a chorus of MeToos. Love Island-era Britain may well be more open about sex, but it’s still not a place where heterosexual men of a certain age will readily admit they’re simply no longer interested.
To do so is to invite questions about your masculinity, or even how heterosexual you were in the first place.
Yet Lineker is by no means alone, reckons London-based sex therapist Silva Neves, who says it’s a perfectly natural phenomenon of middle age. It’s only an issue if they — or other people — see it as such.
“Gary Lineker sounds at peace with it,” he says. “But many men do worry about it, especially those who associate masculinity with sexual potency.” In a sense, Lineker is merely confirming what science tells us.
Once a man is in his 30s, his testosterone levels typically fall around 1 per cent a year. The effect can be noticeable within a decade or two, even though most men retain some sex drive well into their 60s or 70s.
This, though, seems to be a phenomenon observable only in a laboratory, as trying to find men who will talk about it publicly is like trying to interview unicorns.
When I put out an appeal to Facebook friends as research for this article, all I got at first was matey bravado. “Sorry, mate, feeling a bit tired after satisfying my woman for the ninth time today,” said one wag. “Off to make love for the 27th time this month, mate,” added another.
The few who were more candid, meanwhile, insisted on anonymity. “Lots of factors have suppressed my libido — children, work and so on,” said one married father, 42.
“But it’s also about accepting your own age — when I was young, I’d get girls approaching me, but of course that doesn’t happen any more, and if I were single again, that would make the whole prospect a bit off-putting for me.”
Another father, separated at 45 after years in a sexless relationship, added: “I was terrified when I started dating again that my libido would have packed up. I’m pleased to say, though, that my new relationship is proving extremely healthy. It really is down to the personal connection, not the age.”
Online Reporter