The Gay "Cougar": Why the Men I Date Keep Getting Younger
Posted: Updated:I came across this article today on the Huffington Post. I don't agree with the premise completely, for example, I've been trying to avoid dating anybody as Sam, my last boyfriend, who was 24 when we met, but still...when the author says, "Despite the social and economic limitations of his youth, I was attracted to his openness and his fearlessness (if coming out wasn't the dare involved). I was his first boyfriend, and he dived right into the relationship, unencumbered by the baggage of past loves and disappointments. He wasn't jaded. He may have looked like a baby, but the courage and vigor with which he pursued me was all true man. As with most of my relationships with younger guys, none of which were just about sex or my paying their way, we had a smooth ride out of the starting gate because there weren't all those roadblocks that get bumpier as potential mates get older: fear of rejection, pride, a need to keep score lest the scales tip causing him to lose the upper hand. He hadn't lived long enough to compile a lengthy list of rules, so he forged recklessly ahead." I get exactly what he means.
I don't write very often these days, mostly because my dating life is so stagnant, it seems
counter-intuitive to write about something (intergenerational dating), I am not really experiencing at the moment. My romantic life has been at such a standstill for so long, there are days when I think it is relic of the past. That said, in my more positive moments, as the author avers, "I'll take the fear-free, the shining light of wild, youthful abandon, whether it comes in vintage packaging from before 1974, or wrapping that was made in the late '80s. That was the era that gave us Dangerous Liaisons, MTV's 120 Minutes, and "Oscar winner Cher." Who's to say it didn't produce Mr. Right, too?"
At least, that is what THIS DADDY thinks (too)!
