There is a double standard when it comes to someone dating someone younger than them. Society seems to celebrate the men who manage to snatch a mate who is sometimes half their age, while women are shunned for dating men who are younger than them. However, older women are beginning to date younger men as a trend, and it seems like it is here to stay.
One study reported by TODAY found that eighty percent of women are interested in dating men who are ten years younger than them. On the flip side, the same study found that ninety percent of men are willing to date women who are ten years older than them. Clearly, there has been a paradigm shift in the world of dating, and older women are beginning to snatch up younger men – and there are a number of reasons for it.
Maria Shriver, Special Anchor at TODAY, sat down with matchmaker Julia Spira to see why the age gap is becoming more common in relationships.
“These days, women have the economic power, they’ve got great careers, so they aren’t necessarily looking for somebody to be their equal on a bank statement,” Spira told the Today anchor. She added, “Women are now going to be dating like men….”
Three couples sat down with Shriver to discuss why the age gap works for their relationship. One couple, 46-year-old Tracy Tutor of the Bravo hit TV show Million Dollar Listing LA fame, and her beau, 26-year-old personal trainer Erik Anderson are all about the age gap – with a solid twenty years between them.
Anderson is actually very attracted to his successful partner and could not find younger women with the same kind of drive as Tutor.
“The younger girls, they really don’t know what they want, and they’re kind of lost. And then I feel lost. And then I saw her confidence, and I was so attracted by just how she works really hard for what she wants,” Anderson told Today.
But Shriver wanted to know why Tutor would give Anderson a chance in the first place.
“Until I met Erik, I went out with a ton of men who were attracted innately to the fact that I was confident and successful — until we were alone. And then it was, like, ‘Oh, I don’t want you to have too much of an opinion,’ right? Like, I like the idea of you, but not really,” Tutor said.
Another couple, Laquelle Mills and Malik Rashid have a six-year age gap in Mills’s favor. Although he is younger than her, she admires his ability to communicate.
“I definitely think he’s a better communicator than me. I think this generation, I believe that they’re more fearless, they’re able to say how they feel in that moment, handle it and move forth,” Mills told Today.
Theresa Gage and Colin Willard have a sixteen-year age gap. Willard believes he knows why older women are dating younger men.
“The younger generation of men see that being a good partner (means) making sure your woman’s fulfilled emotionally and mentally and physically,” he told the Today anchor.