Mumsnet Talk

here
The 17 year old girl in Somalia who married a 112 year old, for instance.
He doesn't understand why everyone is so down on it.
Nothing wrong per se with age gaps in relationships IMO but he misses the point a few times in this article I feel....

Frank Skinner, for example, is a twat.

Ditto crackfox

currently finding 30 year gap a bit eww

will read...

Hmm, I wonder what first attracted the 20 yr old student to the millionaire Frank Skinner?

Am I right in believing that he doesn't go out with women over a certain age?

oh well it's hardly surprising that a twat like Frank Skinner writes a piss-poor article that spectacularly misses the point really is it.

The comments under the article are scary. One of them says that women in their 30s and 40s are 'shallow, cunning and materialistic.' What, all of us?!

When I was internet dating I gave a wide berth to the ones who were 40 and only wanted to meet women in the 20-35 age bracket.

Yes articles like this bring the mad mysogynists out in force

Ah, he's come out with shite like this before.

Lets face it, with a face and personality like that, he doesn't have much going for him apart from the money.

Oh, and I f**king hate that term, cougars.

It really makes me want to spit!

God.. what a twat. Age gaps being fine only works one way with men like Frank Skinner. Even though he briefly touches on 'cougars'.

I was recently accused of being ageist by a man 20 years older than me. And for a minute he made me wonder am I ageist? but then I saw that for the manipulative crap it was. I would employ somebody 20 years older than me and I'd prioritise them equally with a younger patient for say a heart op, but in terms of 'clicking' with another human being, then no, it's not unreasonable and certainly not ageist to gravitate to people your own age. The person who accused me of being ageist has not, I'm sure, asked out an 80 year old recently.

Somebody points out the obvious to Frankskinner
Jenny Ross wrote:
Oh for goodness sake. It's obvious why people raise eyebrows about the age gap - it's a power issue. If there is a gap in knowledge and experience, then that can give the senior partner in the relationship a power advantage over the junior partner. It's not always a dysfunctional thing, I know couples with an age gap who have perfectly normal happy relationships, but there is no denying that quite often, an age gap is a sign of a disproportionate power gap. Age isn't the cause, it's the symptom of what can be wrong in some relationships. It seems disingenuous in the extreme, not to acknowledge that.

I agree with Jenny Ross, but I would add status and money into that mix she lists.

Come the revolution Frank Skinner will have to be one of the first up against the wall.

Now, that I can believe. Bagsy a look in Dittany's black book - of file!

though i'd thought it would be Polanski not Skinner - or Pinker - or Dawkins - or...one of many people

Frank Skinner famously claimed that single women over the age of 30 were rough old arseholes. Then said he was joking

Bless him he clearly needs the publicity, it can't be much fun for him living with a 39 year old

He once said "Women over 40 [or maybe it was even 30] are as rough as old arseholes."

x- post staggerlee - arseholes have obviously stuck in our minds

What a piece of crap to waste newspaper space on. Who gives a flying f* about Frank Skinner and his girlfriend anyway.

Glad I'm not alone betty It was such a charming thing to say it kind of stuck in my mind

i quite like frank skinner

getting a bit spikey lately

give him back his football show with david baddiel. i quite liked that even though i don't like football much

My parents had an age gap of nearly 17 years. It was the happiest marriage I've ever known - far less dysfunctional and more equal than most with 'normal' age gaps. It lasted 51 years until my dad was 89 & my mum 72 and despite the gloomy forecasts of practically everyone she knew that she would be left a young widow, it was my mum who dies first.

There really is no point at all in judging either way, all circumstances are different - which as far as I can see, is all Frank Skinner is saying.

Yes but "all he is saying" is simplistic rubbish isn't it? Because it ignores the cultural context of marriage and partnership and age difference. The posters who comment on the disproportion in status, power, money and experience are noticing something Skinner chooses not to notice because he is either not very bright, or he's just profoundly dishonest. Of course sometimes age is just a number, but to pretend that it isn't OFTEN in our culture and in others, a signifier of some kind of power imbalance in the relationship, is just dishonest. And to imply that a young girl in a tribal Muslim culture who has been married off to Methusaleh, is on a par with Madonna and Jesus wotsisname or even Frank Skinner and his girlfriend and is dealing with the same dynamics (which is basically what he's done in this article), is sickening.

LOL I've just realised about Madonna and Jesus.

Madonna and Jesus! In one way, they were born to be together!!

I'm 11 years younger than Madonna, I have no power, no influence, no money, and I can't imagine finding common ground with a 22 yr old.

eughghrghgh