Do women really find older men attractive?

Are older men attractive? Sigh. I have dated lots of older men, in fact, with the exception of my beloved The Boyf (who is annoyingly 2 years younger than me – as he so often likes to remind me) I have almost always dated older men.

A little discussion on what makes older men attractive

The oldest man I have dated is 23 years older than me. He is still someone I have enormous respect for. Other boyfriends I have had were 20 and 14 years older than me – which is a significant age difference, particularly as I was dating these men in my 20s and early 30s.

My first serious boyfriend was 6 years my senior – he was 24 to my 18 and he had a 6 year old daughter – making me think of him as much older than he was. I thought 24 was positively ancient back then – and a 6 year age difference to an 18 year old is greater than it would seem to a 30 year old.

If you ask the question – do young women genuinely find older men attractive – I can say, yes, absolutely. Whereas a couple of the older men I dated were incredibly rich (like, really, really rich) a couple were not. In fact, I have dated some older men who were so poor, I actually started to worry about what they would do in retirement. I didn’t want to end up as a nurse-maid.

My current lover (the love of my life) is not only young, but very youthful, but this post is not about him. I will hark back to my past here, to let you know genuinely what I found so attractive about my older lovers.

The good stuff about dating older men

1. No video games

Ugh. I hate video games. The best part about older lovers is that they never play them – probably because they come from a different generation.

2. Intelligent conversation

The one thing that ALL my lovers had in common was the ability to tell me a great story. I love to be entertained and I found that older lovers had great conversational skills.

3. More life experience

There is nothing sexier than being worldly. I love people who are doing interesting things and older men always have something cool going on. I love talking to experts in subjects. Often younger guys can be ‘wankers’.

4. Found me very attractive

Yep – it’s all about me. There is nothing better than knowing that your lover finds you incredibly attractive. This really has nothing to do with age but often older men will be very enthusiastic about their younger lovers’ looks.

5. Found me very youthful

I am no longer young (more’s the pity – I am 35) but I enjoyed feeling youthful next to my older lovers. It’s great feeling young. Now that I am the age I am sometimes I feel really tired.

6. Grown up

I like grown-ups. Even as a child, I hated being spoken down to, babied and mollycoddled. Older men are usually more grown up and have a mature outlook on life.

7. Knows how to cook and clean – or order room service

Yep – young men can often do this too but most older men have it down pat. One of my older boyfriends never cooked – but since he lived in a serviced apartment attached to a hotel, we ordered room service every single night.

8. Grey hair

Yep – I like grey hair on guys. No idea why. I think it looks distinguished and sexy. Personally, I have no grey hair and I never intend on ever getting any. That’s science, OK?

And the bad stuff about dating older men

Yep – it’s not all rosy. There are a few things that are not so great about older lovers:

1. Snoring and gross body hair

Yep – as you age, you snore loudly and hair comes out of your ears and nose. Yuk.

2. No idea how to work social media

Sigh. Get Facebook already! Learn how to send emails! Why don’t you have a Twitter account?

3. Bad hearing and eyesight

Either you are pretending not to hear me, or you really can’t.

4. Crappy driving

Yep – sometimes old men drive like old men – even if they do have sexy-ass cars. I like men who are cool drivers and I never go out with a man who does not make me feel safe in his car.

5. Jealous and overbearing

This is not really an age thing, but often older me can be jealous of their lovers and fear that they will run away.

6. No idea about current celebrities

I love talking Hollywood. The Boyf knows more about The Kardashians than me and I love him for that. Sometimes older guys are just out of touch.

7. Won’t make good fathers

Sorry guys – but there is research that says men over 41 are not as fertile. Also – it’s important to be young enough to pick your kids up.