MovieChat Forums > Harold and Maude (1971) Discussion > Why is it more common to see older men.....

Why is it more common to see older men...


with younger women, than older women with younger men? And I mean both in the movies and in real life.

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Someone once told me that men like women and women like money.

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IMO more accurate to say "men like pussy and women like money."

Obviously it applies only to straight men, but let's not forget the vast majority of men are straight.

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[deleted]

Women like men, women or both; men like women, men, or both ... Most people love money.

Saggy balls are just as awful as saggy breasts.

I'll answer the OP: Because we've had a male-dominated culture for thousands of years.

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Men might be more dominant physically, but since the dawn of humanity women have been getting what they want from men by trading their goodies for it.

Also, someone made a great point about basic evolutionary biology. Males generally continue to produce sperm regardless of how old they get. But females run out of eggs at around 50 years of age. So in terms of reproductive instincts vis a vis carrying on your bloodline and perpetuating the species, it makes perfect sense that males would be hardwired to seek out younger females.

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I was always told that girls mature faster than guys and that's why they want to be with older guys.

I remember in high school some girls they were like 16/17 and they would be dating 28-30 year olds. They really couldn't be bothered with boys their age. Some of them would end up marrying them when they graduated.

I remember also hearing how guys are more immature as well, so older guys would want to be with younger girls that were more in tune with them, Like, women their age were too serious....

I am not saying I fully believe this, but Sometimes it kind of made sense. I know many couples where the girl is much younger.

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I never believed the maturity argument. I think the idea that "boys will be boys" has allowed them to act however they please from an early age, while girls are kept to a more narrow set of acceptable behavior. So girls are perceived to be more mannerly and "mature" growing up.

My boyfriend (4 years into the relationship now) is a decade younger than me. (He's 30.) While he can be fun and spontaneous, a lot of the time time he acts like a 50-year-old. No one thinks he is younger than me because we both look about the same age (early 30s). I've never been interested in older men. Men in their mid-30s to 40s often seem more run down than I am. They frequently look rather weathered and tired.

There's another idea floating around that men age better in the latter part of life. I've seen zero evidence of that. Studies have shown that men's skin retains a bit more collagen than women's -- but have you looked at men in their 60s and 70s? they look like women in their 60s and 70s. It's not like they have taut, smooth skin and less wrinkles.

The number of years someone has lived isn't the main factor in what determines whether a relationship will be good or not. It's the compatibility, the chemistry, the communication between the two. The ability to respect each other and not take each other for granted. It's also how each person in the relationship has lived out the years. People physically age at different rates depending on lifestyle, diet, stress level, exercise.

And I'll just say it again: saggy balls are just as bad as saggy breasts. But appearance is not why people stay with each other over time.

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yeah, I guess.

I honestly have seen WAY more young girls with older guys. I am sure there are couples of young guys with older girls, I know.
But I have personally seen a lot more older guys with young. Like I said It was even all the way from high school. Which was kind of weird because these girls were so young.

I know age doesn't really make how you turn out maturity wise, but it's just like there is a lot more young girls with them

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We see the young girl/older man couple a lot more because it's been accepted in society the world over for a few thousand years. Now that women are (very slowly) gaining more status, they can choose to be with younger men the same way men have been able to choose.

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One could argue that it has a Darwinian aspect to it - women seek out males who can be good, consistent providers for (real or potential) offspring, and middle-aged and even elderly men can be solid breadwinners. Hence, their appeal to young women. On the flip side, women tend to lose their procreative abilities as they age. It's far harder for a 50-year old or even a 40-year-old woman to conceive a baby than it is for a man of the same age to do so. If procreation is the goal in long-term mating, as it often is, then it's understandable that men tend to persue younger women, simply due to the fact that they (the females) are in the peak years of potential parenthood.

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Which just goes to prove that women are just as bad as they've been saying men are for years. When an older man was with a younger woman he was considered by women to be a "dirty old man" going through a "midlife crisis."

Now that the shoe is on the other foot, do you see old woman who pursue young men called those names. You should. Because it goes both ways.

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Unfortunately that "boys will be boys" mentality is also the reason women who victimize younger men get lesser consequences than men who do the same to younger women.

It becomes some sort of this warped idea that the boy wants it, and the woman is "teaching" him.

No, he's being victimized. And the reason he "wants it" so badly is because he's thinking with one thing and is too immature to control it. So the woman who pursues that and victimizes him should be sent up the river just as harshly as the older man who does the same to a girl.

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willard from nine years ago, now that your boyfriend is in his early forties, I hope you haven't dumped him for looking too "weathered and tired".

As far as "saggy balls" are concerned, I'm pushing seventy and my sack hasn't stretched or dropped a bit. If all you saw was my privates, you wouldn't be able to guess whether I was young or old. Unfortunately, I can't make the same claim for my face!

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I was always told that girls mature faster than guys and that's why they want to be with older guys.

I remember in high school some girls they were like 16/17 and they would be dating 28-30 year olds. They really couldn't be bothered with boys their age.


The mature faster physically, not mentally. This is just something they will say to try and justify why a predator is interested in them. If a 30 year old man wanted a mature woman, he would date someone his own age, not a 16 year old high school student.

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Men have evolved to find fertile looking bodies physically attractive whereas women are generally attracted to status, money, and power.

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It's a simple BIOLOGY and NATURE. It's all about fertility and ability to make children. As simple as that. And it is wired in our collective unconscious so to speak. It will always be more natural and common to see older men together with younger women than vice versa.

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because one configuration can still reproduce and the other can't. therefore one is more "unnatural" and less tolerated

plus for a long, long time the male was the one who guaranteed security for the family, so again, a younger and weaker male hardly ever happened, and again, was more unnatural

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Because what straight man wants a pair of saggy floppers when he could instead opt for a pair of perky pokers!

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