The Allure of the Younger Man

Demi did it. Samantha Jones did it. Apparently Courteney Cox has a show coming out about it. It seems a younger man is the new accessory of choice for the thirty-plus woman...so should you do it?

A quick survey of my girlfriends suggests yes. Nearly all of them have a young one on standby and the ones who haven't have thought about it. Hard. But what is it about the younger man that has become so appealing to us?

Ii think it comes down to two things; accessibility and adoration. Find a younger man before his first heartbreak and you'll get both in spades. Not having experienced the kick-in-your-face pain that comes with your first real breakup, young dude has no problem putting himself out there. He has no arbitrary rules, no 50-ft thick walls, no axe to grind with wicked and evil women. If he's feeling you he steps to you. He'll call you without worrying about looking like a punk. And his innate eagerness will have him hot and sweaty to see you whenever you're free, unlike men in our thirties that pencil you in between work, house basketball leagues, drinking with his boys, his 10 other girls, and marathon sessions of Madden 10.

Which leads us to the real appeal: adoration. No reason to deal with a younger man without it. Everything you say is 'so dope'. Your body looks amazing for an older woman. He's in awe of you because you're more experienced, more accomplished, and more knowledgeable than he is with a better car, a nicer watch, and a bigger apartment. How can women, with our insatiable need for ego-boosting, possibly resist?

So is there a downside to a younger man? I guess it depends what you want from him. If you're just looking to get your parts oiled for fun, I can't see what the problem is. But if you're looking to settle down, is a younger man a viable choice?

I've been intrigued by the older woman-younger man phenomenon since I first saw Juice. And because I'm already put waaaay too much of my business in this blog I'm not gonna tell you whether I've gone there or not. I haven't. But after getting my face kicked in by men my own age, I can definitely see the appeal. But I suspect that younger men come with just as much bullshit as older guys do.

Of course, that might just be because I'm bitter and jaded.