Call it the feeling-frumpy-or-fine phenomenon of sex and aging for women.

A new study shows that a woman's sex life may be richer if she thinks she's at least as attractive as she was 10 years earlier. But if she thinks her glory days, in terms of attractiveness, are over, some aspects of her sex life might have faded as well.

"This study points out that women's body image was a significant predictor of their specific sexual functioning," researcher Patricia Bartholow Koch, PhD, tells WebMD. Koch is an associate professor of biobehavioral health and women's studies at Pennsylvania State University.

The study appeared in The Journal of Sex Research.

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD, originally published November 11, 2005

Love your body, have better sex!