Good old sex

Hiring Delahanty (who began in May, after the sex issue was, um, put to bed) was one of AARP's concessions to its changing demographics. A magazine veteran with mainstream experience as a senior editor at both Sports Illustrated and People, Delahanty spent the last few years editing that countercultural answer to Reader's Digest, the Utne Reader. At the time he arrived, in 1996, the Utne was an anachronism, equal parts old left and New Age and about as exciting as a day at the laundromat. Delahanty alienated some of the magazine's old readers while luring new ones with his themed issues on modern living and how to abide. "One of the things we were doing at the Utne Reader was shifting to helping people find balance in their lives and enrich their lives," he says of his tenure there. "We did a package on 'stuff' -- how to deal with all the stuff in your life, looking at it from a lot of different perspectives. And that story could work here, too."

That's especially true as Modern Maturity's audience morphs into one more like him: concerned with matters spiritual and political, looking for some reading that speaks to them but longing for some humor as well. A cover with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner fared better with readers under 65 (according to reader interviews), not because the comedians are in that age group (they are 73 and 77, respectively) but because they became legendary in the '60s and '70s. "With the baby boomer group there is much more interest in humor and irony," says Delahanty "They have an ironic point of view about looking at the world, but are also much more savvy about pop culture, whatever is hip now. And a lot [of them are] pretending to be hip."

As co-author, with former Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson, of the Zen-warrior basketball book "Sacred Hoops," Delahanty knows a thing or two about making the outri everyday. (It was Jackson, after all, who brought Native American totems into the team's meeting room.) "One of the things we were trying to do with that book [was] take ideas that one could see as countercultural and familiar to a small group of people and make them accessible to a mainstream audience," he says. "And I think that's what I'll be doing largely here."

Demographically, his audience should be right there with him, nodding knowingly at each Captain Beefheart reference -- and appreciating some frank talk about sex. Expect some sea changes there as well; people who grew up reading "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and watching "Candy" don't need Dr. Laura Schlessinger (interviewed in the current issue) shaking her finger at them.

One of the more intriguing revelations contained in the sex study (conducted by mail in March by National Family Opinion Research Inc.) concerned the partner gap that exists for women over 75 -- more widows than widowers -- and the different attitudes of younger seniors, a true generational divide. "The gap in attitudes between women over and under 60 suggests that baby boomer women, the oldest of whom are in their late 40s and early 50s, will be much less likely than their mother's generation to accept celibacy as the natural outcome of widowhood," writes Susan Jacoby in her analysis of the data.

Perhaps putting the issue front and center will serve as a wake-up call for some elderly women, anyway; sin is a relative concept when you're faced with no nookie and a life of loneliness. Writer Jacoby's mother is 78, notes Delahanty. "All her friends are into their 90s. They were saying things like 'I never even looked at this magazine' before; now they can't wait to get their hands on the sex issue. That's the power of sex."

And all the sisters in the amen corner begin to shout ...

Rumor control: Speaking of Kurt Vonnegut, I can't wait to hear the commencement address he gives this year. But rather than believing (and then passing along) every piece of e-mail you receive, why not check that rumor out first? You say you don't have the time, the contacts, the motivation? Not to worry. As a regular service of this column, I will try to track down any media rumor that comes spamming your way and confirm or deny it for you in this space. Simply e-mail me at Rumor Control with the latest bit of gossip you've heard -- disasters on the movie set, airhead remarks, the usual suspects. The rumors spread on the Internet today are the urban legends of tomorrow. Be like Smokey, and help stop fires before they start.

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