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Thursday, May 29, 2008 12:00 AM

Older women: Sexy or scary?

According to a British tabloid, "record numbers" of single women are dating younger men. Be afraid, be very afraid!

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  • Thursday, May 29, 2008 10:52 AM

    In Praise of Older Women (Like My Girlfriend)

    As a 25-year-old man in a long-term relationship with a woman ten years his senior, I'd like to offer my own take on the situation.

    I think one of the reasons young men are taking up with more older women is that older women are looking younger all the time. The night I met my girlfriend, I quite literally checked her ID. I couldn't believe she was as old as she said she was. Decades of cosmetic and other advances - and a culture that pushes women to fight every wrinkle like it was D-Day - have pushed the onset of aging well past the age where it used to set in with a vengeance.

    Economic considerations also come into play. My girlfriend is an upper-middle manager - I'm a peon at writing desk. She's had an extra decade to rise up the corporate ladder, and her income reflects that. An older man might find the income imbalance threatening, but a young buck like me knows it's all relative. I'm in this relationship because I love her, not because I wanted a widescreen TV, but the sugar momma effect cannot be discounted.

    The bottom line is, I'm with my girlfriend because she's smart, beautiful, funny, warm and loving. The fact she was born in the 70s and I was spawned in the 80s is just a detail.

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