Why do young dudes like old chicks?

Catherine, a 71-year old single woman, writes, "Well how about 40 and 50 years difference? I am amazed and really would like to do research on this. Just this past weekend I had 22, 24 and 25 year olds here in town as well as 34 and a 36 year old elsewhere interested - juggling 2 at a time on MSN! The ones in town want to date me and they are the ones in their twenties. I am pretty sure that they have no ulterior motives, regarding money anyway, as they work at the plants here. They are lonesome - many single people are. I have started asking "Why me?" and and they say they like older - and I am sexy - there is no doubt they are turned on - but that is the lot of most guys in their 20's (30's, 40's...) anyway. There has been such a "Barbie" "youth" fetish on this continent for years that perhaps it has palled for some. I think the age differences matter less in Europe. I have heard words like - maturity, intelligence, sensuality, sexy, life - when I ask why. I am very real with these guys and very straight - as I am everywhere. There are enough of them that I do believe it represents something about society - but not something that will be easily analyzed. Some one has suggested to me that too many women have fallen into the Redbook/Cosmopolitan traps of "How To..." and therefore are not real. Another wonders if the isolation that occurs due to current technology and social habits of the younger generation is a factor. Currently I am somewhat serious with a 51 year old and we are planning to meet. That age difference seems so minor to me now. I know your site deals with age differences in both directions, and not quite this topic, but I was wondering if you have gleaned any insights related to what I have written above. I include my unedited photo online - but it is not just that - it is the profiles I write and also the interaction we have online. The youngest ones do not even mention that I do not look 71 - the 40 to 50 years old do. The whole situation particularly interested me when I was messaging 2 twenty-some year olds at once and was having essentially the same conversation with each."

Well, if you read my blog and if you have watched several TV programs on the subject, there are many couples out there with such vast differences, though, I think people still tend to look at them with skepticism, and often accuse the woman of trapping the guy or the guy being attracted to the woman's wealth. I have heard from some men who love these women even though she is not wealthy and has turned away their advances.

So, we can divide these men into several categories:

1. Greedy men who want a woman's wealth after she dies.
2. Lonely men who have been rejected so often by women in their age group that they have given up on them.
3. Men who assume that an older woman is more likely desperate for sex and intimacy and is thus easy to manipulate for whatever they have in mind.
4. Men who are fascinated by the idea of sex with an older woman. You know the ones who lusted for their friend's mom in school or their teachers or a neighbor or even an aunt. This has been romanticized a lot in movies and literature and with so many of our Hollywood icons being in their 40s and 50s, many boys grow up liking older women.
5. There are a lot of single, older women (divorce, late marriages, never married, etc.) available in our society these days.
6. Many older women are intelligent, confident, and far more interesting than a girl in her 20s, for example. What man would not be attracted to all that?

I think when these men interact with you and want to spend time with you, it is some combination of all of the above.

If you are up for it, I would encourage you to actually explore dating with these men in 20s, if not for anything serious, but at least for finding out more about you and them. I am sure I will learn a lot from your experience and through my blog I can pass on the wisdom to other men and women exploring relationships with such huge gaps.