Grown Men Dating Teenagers

I think it is mixed.
A much older man looking for very young women is often sleazy.

There are a minority of young women who much prefer older men and they have a pretty poor selection, as they still want the man to be fit (retired from rugby at 40 and now only do undignfied boxing sparring), attractive and successful. What can happen is men in these shoes do not realise it is only a minority of young women with these tastes.
I am a pretty average man, I have an OK job (160K pa), wn hair etc and in shape, but also only 5'10". You would not expect me to get much attention. As a single middle aged man, some of the young women interested in me was frankly bizarre.
The decent men don't tend to divorce, funnily enough, their wives want to keep them.
I am divorced. I married a woman with whom I shared regular dates, good sex life, we could talk disagreements through and I would often learn from it, she helped with housework and worked full time. Real stepford wife stuff, then we married and all of that stopped immediately. Many of the best people I know are divorced. Marriage takes two to work and the idea that it only takes one to be decent is misleading. I am now happily married, but it was a while as I did not think I would ever marry again.

These pics of Vincent Cassel are so creepy...he looks like he could be her grand-father. Vile.

'@IcedPurple

Conversely, as men accumulate status and resources, their power increases.'

Nonsense.

The majority of middle-aged men are just regular, boring, balding, beer-drinking, football loving guys with average jobs and more than a few have a porn addiction and misogynistic views.

There are not business tycoons or film stars.

Go on any dating site and you will find that the majority have little to offer to women of any age and none of them would have pretty teenage girls giving them a second glance.

These days women work, have their own resources and don't need a man to prop them up financially.

Grotesque.
Men do not get better looking or get more status, they like to think they do but it's very rare.
Most look like rugged skinned potatoes with eyes and pot bellies. They are deluded. Far more women make more effort with appearance, personality, being an interesting person who tries new things and wants to better herself. I've always been bisexual but more tilted to men, as I get older it's going the other way which I know is quite common.

Martinssparecalculator, it ain't the emotional or mental capacity they're interested in !!!!

Completely agree. The single men I know who are 40+ are just fat and bald. Most of them have a porn addiction and few hobbies. Maybe football or rugby. More likely to be over drinking and boring people about why they left their wife (usually to do with her not giving him enough sex or in one case she was spending too much on the kids). All of which doesn't thrill the average 20yo who wants to be exploring the world and learning. Why do so few men want to travel or grow in the same way women often do?

The decent men don't tend to divorce, funnily enough, their wives want to keep them.

Conversely, as men accumulate status and resources, their power increases.

But most men don't "accumulate status and resources" as they age. Your average middle aged man is not wealthy or high status, or anything close. And as I said above, there's a good chance that an available man of this age has already been married and divorced, so supporting his other family will take a good chunk of whatever resources he has.

The idea that middle aged men have 'power' in the dating field is laughable. The internet is full of them, desperate for younger women. If they were so attractive, they should be getting snapped up. But they're not.

He is now with yet another gorgeous woman about the same age.

He is definitely a creep. I remember reading an interview where he went into great detail about the type of women he prefers, seeing them all as racial stereotypes. And this was when he was still married to Monica!

He also thinks that men are 'naturally' cheats and women should just put up with him. He was sort of hot, in a 'joli laid' sort of way, when he was younger. But those days are long gone!

According to wiki, it was French, and was originally the ideal age for a man to marry, rather than the minimum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_disparity_in_sexual_relationships#"Half-your-age-plus-seven"_rule

Ideal age makes it very creepy

I don't think there's any "rule" that can define these things well. Adults dating teenagers is wrong as its like the man is taking advantage of idealism/naivety of a teenage girl. I just don't understand how you could have anything in common

but I actually didn't, and that's what matters.

It may be the done thing here to deliberately misrepresent someone's post in bad faith to make a point, but I didn't make that point, and don't believe it.

The point I was making is that for the most part, teenage girls are the ones who do the choosing when it comes to dating, and they mostly chose to date men who are older. To be clear I'm talking about a couple of years older, not the outliers who date 40yo men, which I agree is creepy to say the least.

In other words, it's typical to see a 16/17yo girl dating a 19/20yo boy, and it's very rare to see a 19/20yo girl dating a 16/17yo boy.

Women under the age of 25 have a great deal of power when it comes to dating. After than it diminishes over time. Conversely, as men accumulate status and resources, their power increases. These reasons are why as men and women get older, the typical age gap increases.

Vincent Cassel is a creep

they have separated now maybe she has become too old for him

Depends what you mean by grown men and teenagers. When I was an older adult teenager I had a relationship with a 'grown man', he was 10 years older and his friends didn't approve but it was fun and consensual. There wasn't a power imbalance and I wasn't manipulated. I've never regretted it although in the scheme of things a bit of a fling, have been happily married to a man my own age for most of my adult life

@Pomegranatecarnage That picture of that middle aged man (Vincent Cassel,) and that young woman makes me feel nauseous. You are right. Vile. Utterly vile. She is physically gorgeous, and he is physically unattractive. If he was a plumber or a bank clerk, no WAY would a woman 30 years younger than him go anywhere near him! 😖

You kinda did.

Like Vincent Cassel who met his wife when she was 18 and he was 48? Grim!

I remember being a teenage girl and early 20’s

men in their 30/40’s hanging around us we were naive, as young people should be and they took full advantage

it’s not an equal playing field never had been never will be

older adults should just leave young adults alone and let them find their own way in life in relationships

That’s NOT what I said AT ALL.

I was coming to say exactly this 😂

Yes, I know at least a couple of men who ditched their wives in their 40s and started trying to date women in their 20s (only to find that young women weren't interested!).

I think that there's been a cultural shift though. Things that were acceptable 'back in the day' when Mr 40+ was growing up, aren't considered acceptable to young people today. I've noticed a big generational difference in what is and what isn't acceptable. Young people are much more likely to interpret certain behaviours as harassment for example. Especially post 'me too'.

This exactly. I dated a man in his 40s when I was in my mid 20s.

I was well educated and mature for my age, but I didn't have the life experience to see through all of his manipulative bullshit. It's only when I look back now that I can see how controlling the relationship was.

Half the blokes age, plus 7 is meant to be the maximum age gap according to some

Playground bollocks. I can't believe that adults still quote this 'rule'

Who decided it?

Not always...and surely its up to the older man to say no.. considering hes supposed to be the mature one?
Yep i was interested in older men but...they should have known better and i didn't throw myself at them.

This is impregnation, not dating. Men should know better.

No, YOU be clear: that doesn't matter.

She may have been "asking for it" (because that's precisely what you're saying here) - that doesn't mean adult men were right to give it to her.

As a man, when I got to my mid-twenties, I was surprised to find I was actively sought by teenage girls, around 16 or 17. Girls will lie about their age.
I did kept away as they were 16/17 and most men do. MY point is not to justify men generally, but point out that that get mixed up.