I’ve always tended to gravitate towards a May-December situation in my own past romantic relationships—what early 20-something woman wouldn’t be into a dude with a job, no roommates, and the perfect salt-and-pepper hair? Alright, so some of my friends found it kind of weird…and I’ll admit, sometimes a 15-20 year age difference posed some unique challenges (oh, you have a mortgage? And an ex-wife? And a daughter a little younger than me…?)
Looks like I was doing it all wrong, anyway! A recent survey of over 2,000 adults claimed to have come up with the perfect age gap in a relationship: 4 years and 4 months—and the man had to be the older one.
And I guess I was getting some dirty looks when I was in my May-December phase. A third of women surveyed admitted to judging other women who were dating much older men, believing that the man must be “very rich”—and 18 percent believe the relationship won’t last. A quarter of women also said that they assume the younger woman with an older man is a gold-digger. Ouch. (And wait a sec…why was I dating old broke guys all this time?! Darn it.)
What do you think—do you think there’s an ideal age gap in relationships? How have age differences affected your own past and present relationships?
