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Why do you suppose that wealthy men in their 60s tend to choose women in their early 40s? I see this a lot in New York. These men are wealthy enough to go a lot younger if they wish. Why don't they, if male attraction is based on fertility? My guess has been that 40 is about as young as they can go "within reason" and not look ridiculous.
Hi OngletNYC,
I would view that as the social pressure component. Self can only go so far until it materially damages the species. 60 year old men, for the most part, do not make the best father for an infant. There is a pressure to keep the species going as well as the individual, and it is a blind spot for many people looking at evo-psych.
There is also blind spot for many women who assume they are doomed in old age. Men prefer young women precisely because they tend to bond to them. So this is more of a problem if the bond is broken.
I think the idea that men will necessarily date younger is a fallacy. It depends on the man in question, and how much emphasis/value he places on youth.
I am 31, and I sometimes find older women more attractive than younger women. Women in their early twenties seem too baby looking for me, and I often find that as I age, women of contemporaneous age to me seem the most attractive.
Ya, they call this "human nature." In the old days women mostly dated older men because this was understood. After all, women can only bare children for so long where as men tend to become richer and more responsible with age.
Like it or not, men are attracted to women primarily for their reproductive qualities. Women are attracted to men for their ability to protect and provide for her and her offspring. So, the combination of older men and younger women was a perfect match.
Or to put it more bluntly, most men still look good well into their 40s - women peak in their teens or twenties and often hit a wall at 30. While some women look good at 45, there aren't many.
Good thing the Feminists came along and did away with all that outdated conventional wisdom. Note the obvious sarcasm.
Yes, he is down hill now, but it was not until he did his Bond films that he peaked. No way he could pull off the same appeal in his 20s.
True. But let's be honest. you, and most men claim that "men get better looking with age" and clearly that is false. Men and women both climb, hit a plateau, then head downhill fast. Non-wealthy men tend to start heading downward after 35 or so (and wealthy/Hollywood types go to 45). The reason they continue to climb in terms of attractiveness has nothing to do with looks, it is earning power and confidence, both of which really get going after 40.
A single, emotionally healthy 45 year old male of average looks is an 8 if he has a good job. If he loses the job and is unemployed for a year, his number plummets to a 3.
How do 60 year old men approach me? They offer to pay my rent. Why? They know as well as I do that they have deteriorated so much that money and power is the best thing they have to offer.
Like it or not, men are attracted to women primarily for their reproductive qualities.
Ha-ha, another reproductionist! Plenty of men are done with children and there are more and more who don't want them in the first place. They're young, too, and don't want their peers for this precise reason.
I think the idea that men will necessarily date younger is a fallacy. It depends on the man in question, and how much emphasis/value he places on youth.
I am 31, and I sometimes find older women more attractive than younger women. Women in their early twenties seem too baby looking for me, and I often find that as I age, women of contemporaneous age to me seem the most attractive.
If you don't believe in natural selection, then it will not impress you.
And gee, look how overwhelmingly the Sami have taken over the world. They're not, you know, tucked into the tiniest, northernmost, most barren, coldest, harshest tiny area of Scandinavia or anything... MUST be THE evolutionary way to go; the sheer numbers and the strength to hold a tiny outcropping above the Arctic Circle just prove it.
Yes, that was sarcasm.
And I have nothing about the Sami. I think their culture is fascinating. It's also almost completely...gone.
So obviously this age difference between men and women did very little, if anything, toward their evolutionary continuation. Individual, maybe. As a race/culture/society? Oh come on, man. How many Sami are there now???
By the way, one section of this abstract all but says that very young-married women "reproduced more successfully" simply because after that point...a lot of women died, period, end of story. (slapping forehead again) I personally would assume WAY lower fecundity in dead women v. living women. But that's just me...
It also explicitly points out age differences of 4, 6 or even 8 years -- with the man being older -- as being a "natural" tendency, and this may well be true. But 15 or more years producing "greater fitness" -- and using a tiny, continuously-pushed-farther-into-the-wilds, incredibly isolated culture to prove it? Oh help me. (Read the abstract, folks.)
By the way, hey, I'm no scientist, but...if this age difference marriage society had such positive "reproductive fitness," why did their numbers dwindle year on year and century on century? Are these not obvious questions? Le sigh...Also, to the OP: The mean age difference wasn't 15 years, it was 13+, and that was the mean; the optimal was explicitly stated as 10 years...a far cry from what you seem to be "proving" here. Yes, we all know that often, if he has a job and any sort of looks at all, a man can look around and land a 10-years-younger woman. The news here is...?
Last edited by JerZ; 11-19-2010 at 11:40 PM..
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Plenty of men are done with children and there are more and more who don't want them in the first place. They're young, too, and don't want their peers for this precise reason.
MUST be THE evolutionary way to go; the sheer numbers and the strength to hold a tiny outcropping above the Arctic Circle just prove it.
