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Dating a Younger Guy: Can It Really Work?

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Exeter chapter.

At HCX we commend those women who have dealt with the tragedies of wrinkles and sagging skin with Botox and personal trainers. However, nothing can be more of a confidence booster than holding the attention of a much younger man. In fact, we should be celebrating that the world has finally recognised the place of ‘Cougars’ in society, claiming their rightful place along side the old timer, the ‘Sugar Daddy’. But, at the risk of doing a Demi and losing your hubby to the incredibly beautiful Mila Kunis, is it better to get this fancy for a youthful man out of your system before the ripe old age of forty? Or is it less acceptable to date a younger man when you’re barely a legal adult yourself?

A friend of mine has recently graduated and, after several years slogging away in the university holidays at a local radio station, has been offered a full time job as a presenter. Out of all of my graduated friends, she is the closest to reaching the career that she has always dreamed of. But then this summer, abandoned by us all at festivals and on holidays, stuck in the city that we’d grown up in and grown out of, she took a step back and had a romance with a guy several years younger than her. What was initially a summer fling, intended to pass the time in our absence, blossomed into a relationship one night in a club, where he asked her out. The classic ‘will you be my girlfriend?’, which most of us haven’t heard since our tender teenage years, was whipped out. Luckily for him, she said yes.

 

However, although the perks are obvious; the high sex drive, the lack of work commitments and the constant flattery that comes from being an older woman, is it worth allowing yourself to fall for someone who isn’t at the same stage in life? He’s just starting university as a baby fresher, and she not only has a degree, but also a demanding career. Receiving incessant boozy phone-calls in the early hours of the morning isn’t as amusing when you have to be up before dawn for work. Going to visit his halls and squeezing yourself into a single bed is much less appealing when you have a queen size in the flat you’ve just moved into with your other adult friends. As for work functions – well, it’s debatable whether it’s actually socially acceptable to bring along a date who’s the same age as your boss’s children. And there will always be a part of you cringing when someone asks him what he thinks of the hung Parliament and he answers that he’s pretty well hung himself


Picture credits: weheartit.com

2nd year English Lit student.