The word "cougar" has become synonymous with older women who are linked romantically with younger men. Spoofed on Saturday Night Live, cougars are shown as kind of desperate and a little bit icky. But in movies like The Graduate (Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson) and even Wedding Crashers (Jane Seymour aka Kitty Cat), the cougars are intriguing... perhaps a little off, but nevertheless fascinating and, dare we say it, sometimes even sexy.
But how do people really feel about cougars? Are they desperate women who are trying to hang onto their younger days by "hunting" younger men?
We tend to think that this so-called cougar trend has been blown a bit out of proportion. Speed dating services have tried recently to capitalize on this cougarism, but it hasn't really been working out for them. The younger men just aren't signing up to meet the older ladies. And the event organizers are a bit baffled. Our guess is that it's a well-publicized relationship or two (e.g. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher) that's making everyone think cougar-led romances are a common trend... or, at least, a trend that younger men would be willing to admit their interest in.
It's not that easy to bring to mind oodles of real-life older-woman/younger-man couples - famous, infamous, or otherwise. One relationship, albeit highly publicized, does not necessarily make a trend.
→ How do you see cougars - overblown trend or raging epidemic?
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4 comments:
Women get a bad rap no matter how you slice it - younger women who go for much older men are called gold-diggers; older women going for younger men are cougars. Any significant age difference doesn't bode well for how people interpret a woman's intentions.
I think people are attracted to each other despite their age. Now that 'cougars' are being talked about, women may be finding it more acceptable in their own mind to pursue younger men. Or, perhaps, we as women are just pursuing relationships that fit our needs and fulfill us, independent of age.
...but who knows?
My ex-husband is 9 years older than me...my current boyfriend is 7 years younger. My attraction to these men had nothing to do with their age...
I think part of it could be that a women reaches her "peak" later than men do so maybe she is just looking for someone to keep up with her, not just in the bedroom but in a social life as well. As someone new to the dating scene again (after being widowed after 15 yrs together) I find that I want to go have fun and most guys my age are a little "old" (not all, but most)...... I find that the guys that interest me are unfortunately younger (tho I DO have my limits on HOW YOUNG I am willing to go).
Over the last 15 years, I have been in a relationship with a man 10 years my senior, a man my own age, and now with a man 10 years my junior. All three men have/had their pro's and their con's. None of which were related to their age. Except that now I have "bragging rights" when I'm out with the girls and I have to "defend my cradle robbing" when I'm with anybody else.
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