How Old is Too Old?

It appears that we have a mentality of 'anything goes' in our modern day society; everything from changing your bra size at a moment's notice if you're unhappy with what nature gave you, wearing jeans with blazers, or airing out your most shameful dirty laundry on TV for the nation to see, right down to getting paid by the Government for not finding a job and guy-liner/skinny jeans for men!

But there is one trend in particular that appears to be on the rise in the popularity stakes; the age disparity (or gap) between us and our spouses, partners, lovers or significant others. You only have to watch Maury a few times to realise that 45 year olds sleeping with someone who is younger than even their own kids, no longer appears to be extraordinary:

Maybe I'm old fashioned. I remember talking with the BDSS ladies in the past about how 'young' or how 'old' we could consider and I can't say we were prepared to go all that far in either direction. But that's not to say it can't work or is always done out of perversion (for want of a better phrase :O). Definitions on the world wide net would lead us to believe that relationships of significant differences in age could be looked at in the following ways:

Sugar Daddy: a man who spends money for the benefit of a younger person, especially a younger woman typically implying that there is a romantic or sexual relationship between the two, and sometimes implying that the money-spending is, in effect, exchanged for sex.

versus the;

Gold Digger: any woman whose primary interest in a relationship is material benefits. A woman who cares more about a man's bank account (or should that be bank balance) than she does about the man himself.

Or, quite possibly:

Cougar/MILF (i.e. mother I would like to...fancy lol) : A woman of middle age who actively seeks the casual, often sexual, companionship of younger males, who are typically less than 35 years old, energetic and up for anything.

Rhino/Mougar/Manther (all courtesy of Urban Dictionary): the male version of a cougar; an older man who preys on younger women, more times than most for sexual relations or gratification. A boost to the ego, supporting the notion he's still 'got it' .

Personally, I prefer the older man but as a baseline rule, would never date a man my mother's age (I would have issues to even consider someone of 67 or above!) or my child's age. Narrowing that down even more and out of personal preference I prefer to be with someone older than me, by no more than 5 years. That said, I have been open-minded in the past and my youngest partner was two years my junior. They say that girls mature quicker than boys and I used to find that even men of my own age (be it 19, 23, 25) came across much younger in mentality (granted, this does not apply to the whole male species out there, just the ones I came across!) There's something that I find 'safe' about a man older than me; I suppose we women are designed with the desire to be taken care of by a strong male, a head of household - I gats you!! But I also prefer them to be taller, stronger and all the other elements that I want from a relationship so I appreciate that this is not always defined by  someone older than I.

Although, this seems to have worked well in my family. My mother tells me that my Grandfather was nearly 20 years older than my Grandmother and likewise, she was some years younger than my father.

Celebrity Age-Gap Couples 

Purely for your information (or perhaps entertainment lol) below are a list of some famous celebrity couples with significant differences in age. . .

First, we have the “Cougars”:

- Ray Jay & Whitney Houston; 18 years, when they were together

- Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey; 11 years

- Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore; 15 years difference

- Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger; 7 years difference

Then, the “Rhinos”, who appear to be a lot more generous with the gaps, yet representing a trend that has existed for centuries:

- Catherine Zeeta-Jones and Michael Douglas (25 years)

- Celine Dion and manager Rene Angelil (26 years)

- Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise (16 years)

- Danielle Bux, wife of Gary Lineker (19 years)

So BDSSers; what do you consider to be an acceptable age gap? How high would you fly and low would you go lol? Maybe the age gap is less significant the older you get? Or maybe it doesn't matter at all so long as the two people in the relationship make each other happy.