"Age ain't nothing but a number." Is this saying reality or just a highly popularized myth that helps relieve the guilt of eighty-year-old men who date or marry twenty-year-old women? I think that May-December romances have become almost common in our society. Celebrities such as Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones make these types of relationships look so easy, almost perfect, but are these types of unions only perfect or acceptable when the couple is an older man-younger woman, versus an older woman and younger man?

I have been thinking a lot lately about why society deems it OK for older men to date women half their age but snubs their nose at a mature woman dating a younger man. I myself have been dating a man five years my junior for almost three months. Since I began dating this younger man, my male and female friends have told me that dating him is very inappropriate. My friends seem to believe that I will somehow corrupt the young, feeble mind of this man. I am not a "sugar mama", even though my friends try to make it seem that way. I do not whisk him around the world on trips, and I am not buying him extravagant gifts. But somehow the fact that I am older outweighs the fact that we enjoy each other's company. So, my question is, why is it OK for men to date younger women but it is not OK for women to date younger men? Why do men think that the movie How Stella Got Her Groove Back was unrealistic? Is it so hard to believe that young, attractive, mature men would find older women as attractive as young women?

Why do people seem to believe that women are over the hill at a certain age and that men who are up in age are sexy and virile? I think it is the same old chauvinistic attitude that has prevailed in society for years. Men run the world; so the things they do outside the norm of society always seem less inappropriate than the things women do when they act outside of societal norms. Adults are capable of choosing whom they should and should not date, and they should also be able to make this decision without being looked down upon by others. I know this is a bit much to ask, and, of course, it really should not matter what other people think as long as you are happy. But we all know it does matter.

I have been blessed with a youthful appearance so when I am out with my young gentleman friend, I never feel as though people are staring. I know once the people in my life and his life find out how old I am or how old he is, they seem to treat us differently. I try to ignore this behavior but the constant cracks about mothering him and wiping his nose can wear on anyone's nerves after a while. This type of treatment simply limits who we are able to hang around with. That is sad because he won't know some of my friends because of their simple-minded attitudes, and I won't know some of his friends for the same reason.

So is that clever saying true, does age really not matter, or is this only true when men are the older part of the equation? I think age does matter because as a society we are still not able to accept the fact that women can be vivacious and beautiful as they grow into maturity. Love and like should not be predicated on things like age and race, if you enjoy someone's company and your heart and head tell you "this is the one"; go with that, and not with what society says is appropriate.

Don't get me wrong I'm not condoning dating minors because I know some weirdo out there might take what I'm saying and try to fit it into their warped world. I mean an adult man or woman deciding that although they are a little far apart in age, they can still have a promising relationship, is OK.

Age is nothing but a number because relationships are based on things that are far more important then the year of your partner's birth. []
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