Age gap dating

London: An increasing number of Brit women are toying with the idea of dating younger men.

Cougar relationships seem to have become a trend now with mature women increasingly going out with men several years their junior. While they have existed earlier too – think Raquel Welch and Mae West - perhaps it is now that they are coming into the limelight after celebrity cougar relationships like Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher began to be covered by the media and shows like Cougar Town began to get high viewer ratings.

Sydney, July 12 (ANI): Want to have a lifelong marital union? Well, then don’t marry a man who is nine or more years older than you or is two or more years younger than you are, revealed some of Australia’s top demographers.

Many older women are more comfortable in bed than younger women. They are less inhibited and more adventuresome. No matter the reason, age difference relationships are becoming more popular and more accepted in today's society.

With couples like Demi and Ashton, older women and younger men pairings are becoming more mainstream. Beyond Mrs. Robinson. And, more evolved than the stereotypical sugar mama preying on a boy toy. As women age gracefully and have more choices, dating younger men can be more appealing than dating men of the same age especially if those older men have baggage (divorce, ex-wife, etc.) Younger men offer an exhilarating ride as you start dating them. But before you indulge, you must discover what you want first.

Ever watched the movie ‘Autumn in New York’? It epitomizes a fair bit of the confusion, pain and angst, yet the beauty and wonder that an older man-younger woman relationship goes through. Much has been written and even more debated about whether such unions make sense. There have been many successful May-December pairings right from Hollywood (Harrison Ford-Calista Flockhart, Michael Douglas-Catherine Zeta-Jones) to those that one encounters in everyday life.

What attracts the younger woman to the older man? And the older man to the younger woman?

A controversy burst open recently in a dance school in Winnipeg because of an allegedly consensual relationships between a 37-year-old teacher and an 18-year-old dance student. This is not a rare case and newspapers and television have reported other cases of relationship between teachers and students that have raised many eyebrows. This is one kind of relationship that our society frowns upon much the same way it condemns child abuse or paedophilia.

 Living in society often places its demands on us, trying to make us conform to accepted norms of behavior and adhere to a certain code of conduct. The same expectations often extend to our relationships as well. Yet forbidden fruit is always tempting. Where once a certain behavior is treated as unacceptable, over time, views become more liberal and it becomes acceptable.

Earlier, living together was frowned upon, but nobody blinks an eye any longer if you happen to be living in. An older woman dating a younger man is something that was looked on askance earlier. Now, with celebrities like Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher popularizing the older woman, younger man relationship, it will probably be seen as a trend-setting norm.