Cupid strikes his arrow on elderly women who now fall in
love with younger men. According to a major study of profiles that were listed
on lonely hearts website it is said that the so called 'cougar' phenomenon has
now been declared a myth. After an analysis of 22,400 profiles from dating
websites it was said that there is no significant group of older women who are
seeking younger men for long-term relationships.
At the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, from the
Department of Psychology ,Dr Michael Dunn stated that single women were almost
universally found to be looking for men around their own age or older. On asked
if this so-called cougar or toy boy effect is a myth, he stated that, “ Yes I
do believe the cougar phenomenon is a myth and, yes, (it is) a media
construct."
He also added saying that ," Who benefits from this
perpetuated myth? ... this is mostly speculative but a clear beneficiary would
be the ''cougar'' or ''toy-boy'' dating agencies themselves."
Dunn's researchers logged on to some of the world's most
popular dating websites to glean data from the profiles of singles based in 14
countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom.
The researchers noted their age as well as the preferred age range of their perfect
match, it was done on all of the singles who were 20 to 50 years of age.
The study showed the rising media portrayal of
"sex-role reversal lifestyles''- such as older women seeking younger men -
was “in no way reflective of the desires evident in the general
population". But instead , there was a consistent consistent
cross-cultural preference by women for at least same-age or significantly older
men.
Dunn stated that Australian men preferred younger women but
they tended to nominate a less dramatic age gap, and they were the least likely
of those studied to rule out dating cougars. He added that ," When it
comes to the gender that desires a dramatically younger partner then, men win
hands down."
There were exceptions in Australia particularly where there
was also "copious evidence revealing a distinctive preference by men for
youthful women''
He further added that , “ Not once across all ages and countries ... did
females show a preference for males significantly younger than male preferences
for females."
Cougar Dating is becoming very common all around the world.
