Are women biologically drawn to older men?

[paracarl44]

I think what some of the women are saying........

is they want to date a sexual mature man.

 

[CrystalLight]

is they want to date a sexual mature man.

Of Course. I would be lying if I disagreed with you, BUT it also helps if he as a brain and a grasp on common sense, and a decent MATURITY level to go along with that fantastical romp(S) in the sack.

 

[m00ch]

I've never dated anyone younger than me. The youngest person I dated was a year older than me, the oldest person I've dated was 21 years older than me. Although, most of the guys I date tend to be 5 to 8 years older than me.

I just find that the majority of guys my age are still super immature. Not all, but most.

Well, this forty year old geezer thanks you ladies for providing a smidgen of hope!

Now, I must change my Depends, check on the porridge in the double-boiler, and lube my walker with a fresh spritz of WD-40.

(laughing)

 

[jkb]

I think alot of it may be rooted in evolutionary biology/psychology, specifically the single all important difference between men and women: women can get pregnant while men do the impregnating.

What does the fact that only women can get pregnant have to do with anything? Well, evolutionary biology and psychology show that, as a result of this fact, women as a whole (who invest the maximum amount of time and energy into raising a single offspring) desire a man who possesses the best genes to be passed on and who can provide and acquire the most resources for them and the offspring. Obviously, this thought only exists at the subconscious level (could you imagine a college girl at a club thinking "Boy, that hottie probably has some genes to pass on, and could definitely provide for my future offspring), and manifests itself in a women's collective desire for strong guys, smart guys, rich guys, etc. Since I really don't think nice guys fall into this category, they end up finishing last as they say.

This isn't a cultural thing because it isn't limited to humans. To name one example out of many, there is a specie of peacock in which the males have colorful something-or-others on their backs; the more vibrant the colors, the stronger their genes are or something (pretty much the stronger the ability to attract a female as the female peacocks instinctively see it as a sign of fertility and strength and everything). Come mating system, the men strut their stuff (literally) and the females choose which males they think will produce the best offspring. And then they go fuck.

That subconscious drive exists in humans as it does in other animals (men to go spread their seed to produce as many offspring as possible, women to carefully choose the best male with whom to create the best possible offspring), though this is greatly masked by human rational thought. In the case of attraction to older men, well we (I) said that women as a whole want a man who can provide resources for the offspring (manifested into a woman's attraction toward rich guys), and older guys are more likely to be richer than younger guys (or, if nothing else, are seen as such). I'm sure you can put two and two together here. Attraction to older men may be a manifestation of the subconscious desire to find a mate that can provide resources for offspring.

Of course, I could be wrong. Oh, and I should also point out that I'm talking about women as a whole, not individuals or specific groups. What this person likes or why that person is attracted to older men doesn't matter here.

 

[LindyHopper]

Whether it's biological or not, the preference is real. David Buss researched mate preferences among 37 vastly different cultures all over the world. In every last one, from the Americans, to the Japanese, to the South African Zulu, he found that men consistently preferred younger women, while women preferred older men. You can easily argue that this makes sense from an evolutionary psychology perspective, suggesting a biological foundation.

Interestingly, other researchers have pointed out that the more equality there is in a society, the smaller the gap there between the mate preferences of women and men. So maybe with time, these differences will disappear completely? I think it's too early to say.

 

[MrPartickler]

Whether it's biological or not, the preference is real. David Buss researched mate preferences among 37 vastly different cultures all over the world. In every last one, from the Americans, to the Japanese, to the South African Zulu, he found that men consistently preferred younger women, while women preferred older men. You can easily argue that this makes sense from an evolutionary psychology perspective, suggesting a biological foundation.

Interestingly, other researchers have pointed out that the more equality there is in a society, the smaller the gap there between the mate preferences of women and men. So maybe with time, these differences will disappear completely? I think it's too early to say.

Now look what you've done. You've gone a ruined a perfectly good thread of off-the-cuff speculation and anecdotal evidence with a bunch of well-researched facts and information. I hope you're happy!

 

[cabalist]

I think alot of it may be rooted in evolutionary biology/psychology, specifically the single all important difference between men and women: women can get pregnant while men do the impregnating.

What does the fact that only women can get pregnant have to do with anything? Well, evolutionary biology and psychology show that, as a result of this fact, women as a whole (who invest the maximum amount of time and energy into raising a single offspring) desire a man who possesses the best genes to be passed on and who can provide and acquire the most resources for them and the offspring. Obviously, this thought only exists at the subconscious level (could you imagine a college girl at a club thinking "Boy, that hottie probably has some genes to pass on, and could definitely provide for my future offspring), and manifests itself in a women's collective desire for strong guys, smart guys, rich guys, etc. Since I really don't think nice guys fall into this category, they end up finishing last as they say.

This isn't a cultural thing because it isn't limited to humans. To name one example out of many, there is a specie of peacock in which the males have colorful something-or-others on their backs; the more vibrant the colors, the stronger their genes are or something (pretty much the stronger the ability to attract a female as the female peacocks instinctively see it as a sign of fertility and strength and everything). Come mating system, the men strut their stuff (literally) and the females choose which males they think will produce the best offspring. And then they go fuck.

That subconscious drive exists in humans as it does in other animals (men to go spread their seed to produce as many offspring as possible, women to carefully choose the best male with whom to create the best possible offspring), though this is greatly masked by human rational thought. In the case of attraction to older men, well we (I) said that women as a whole want a man who can provide resources for the offspring (manifested into a woman's attraction toward rich guys), and older guys are more likely to be richer than younger guys (or, if nothing else, are seen as such). I'm sure you can put two and two together here. Attraction to older men may be a manifestation of the subconscious desire to find a mate that can provide resources for offspring.

Of course, I could be wrong. Oh, and I should also point out that I'm talking about women as a whole, not individuals or specific groups. What this person likes or why that person is attracted to older men doesn't matter here.

In general, I think all your points are likely valid, to which I might only add, as I'm not sure if it's been explicitly stated by you or anyone else or not, although it might seem somewhat obvious, but not only might age be correlated with "maturity" and (possible) greater wealth, but the very fact that a man has reached a certain age might, in and of itself, suggest at least a certain degree of "fitness", else he may never have reached that age in the first place.

As "anecdotal evidence", I might almost be embarrassed to say exactly what the greatest age difference has been in my own personal experience, but suffice it to say that my previous ex-girlfriend accused me of being involved with someone young enough to be my granddaughter, which if not quite accurate, probably wasn't far off.

Finally, while it's not critical to your theories re human mating behavior, just to split hairs (or feathers?) a little, just by coincidence I happened to run across an article yesterday casting some doubt on the long-held theory of female attraction to male peacock feathers:

March 26, 2008 -- The feather train on male peacocks is among the most striking and beautiful physical attributes in nature, but it fails to excite, much less interest, females, according to new research.

The determination throws a wrench in the long-held belief that male peacock feathers evolved in response to female mate choice. It could also indicate that certain other elaborate features in galliformes, a group that includes turkeys, chickens, grouse, quails and pheasants, as well as peacocks, are not necessarily linked to fitness and mating success.

For Indian peafowl, which the researchers studied, male vocalizations appear to do a better job of grabbing the attention of females than their visually screaming "attire"....

Female Peacocks Not Impressed by Male Feathers

I suspect that this lack of attraction to male feathers may not apply to the ladies at this particular site though...

 

[RobAce]

In my life-journey's I have found that women usually are attracted to older men. In my life I have only dated 1 woman that was older (by 2 years) and 2 that were the same age. The rest have all been between 4-8 years younger.
My ex-wife was 8 years younger than I.
Even now at 35, in the college town that is Athens, GA I still find more college women attracted to me than when I was in college.
Most of the gal-pals I have right now range between 18-25, and though its tempting I would not consider dating them. I wont date them because in my eyes they are not ready for the type of relationship I am looking for, though they reject that and insist they are. But in my situation as a single dad I can not take that chance.
As for the why women are attracted to older men... I have no clue, but a lot of it I think has to do with the "experience" factor they see in older man. Several of my gal-pals will call me with real life problems and I think at times when they hear a calm and tested voice on situations that it can grow from admiration to attraction.
I think they want to wear my "Been there and done that" T-Shirt.

Rob