To think 26 year old dating 19 year old is weird?

I was 28 and DH was 39 when we started dating. Been married 36 years. Age gap has never been an issue.

Yes, anyone who thinks TikTok constitutes a reliable source of information needs help.

My husband was 19 when I met him. We was 26. We were both at uni. We’ve been together over 30 years now.

A 7 year age gap is not weird, by the time the 19 yo is 25 the 26 yo will be 32= totally normal.

If I was the parent of the 19yo, I would be keeping an eye on things, but on the whole YABU.

It´s been doing the rounds of the internet for a very long time now. According to this a 33 year old is the youngest I could aspire to. Can´t think of anything worse than dating a millennial. Not at same life stage at all.

Nah, not really. They're both adults.

Americans apparently find this sort of thing super weird and get really het up about it.
I was once told on a Facebook group by a bunch of Americans that the "age gap" between me and my husband was weird, creepy etc etc.
We were 19 and 21. I didn't even know we had an "age gap" 🤣🤣🤣

Anyone ever told you that youre very judgey?

Dh and I have the same age gap. Met him when I was 22 and he was 29. Together 20 years. I get that 19 sounds young but in less than a year it’ll be 20/27 which is fine.

When my old school friend was 19 she started dating a 56 year old. Her mum understandably was furious and stopped speaking to her for years. I thought this was hugely unfair at the time and agreed with her but now looking back just think, why the fuck was a 56 year old interested in a 19 year old? Bearing in mind he also had children older than her… Well they’re still together now 14 years on, married with young children. He’s obviously 70 now and she’s 33 but they seem happy enough so who am I to judge.

And I want to be absolutely clear that im not saying every man has a conscious motive to exploit a younger woman, but I am saying that the society we live in has an impact here and to pretend we make these choices in a vacuum and that grooming and power imbalances and teenagers thinking they are much more mature than they actually are dont exist is naive.

I don't see an issue with it but until I met my DH I went out with older men. My first proper boyfriend only lasted 5 months but that's because he lied about his age (I was 17; and he said he was 26 turned out he was 35). My two boyfriends after that were 20!years older than me but never had any issues in those relationships.
It's legal and nothing to do with you or anyone else. You can choose if you want to be with someone the same age as you, others are entitled to choose differently.

Thanks. Nice to know I've been married to a disgusting paedo for 30 years. Funny thing is, I remember being 18 and how lads my own age were. It was actually refreshing to be with somebody capable of conversation, with a bit more depth.

A lot of the boys my own age at the time were far more predatory. A distinct lack of interest in anything other than how quickly they could get your knickers off. I wanted someone who didn't think with their dick. The 'lad culture' was alive and well back then and many of the 18 year old boys hadn't got past the 'shag and brag' stage.

I met my future husband in an environment of mutual interest. It was a friendship that grew into something more. We had the same interests in music, political leanings, etc. I had a lot more in common with him than I had with most of the laddish twats of my age.

Honestly I would be a bit cautious at first but it would depend on the people.

Does the older person frequently date 18/19/20 year olds?
What is the 19 year old like? At 19 I had lived alone for 3 years and had supported myself financially the whole time.
Is there anything else that could make the 19 year old venerable? Do they have family or friends they can talk to?

I think for me at 19 this would have been fine, but I know a few 19 year olds where them dating someone this much older would probably send up some red flags or at least amber flags and I would be inclined to check in on them a bit more.

I was married for 25 years. Met at 19/27. Nothing weird a out itb

Things have changed re age gaps. Gen Z even think teens in sixth form dating year 11 is wrong. So 19 and 26 goes against the current age gap that many feel comfortable with. But really it depends on the individuals and what they feel.

Because men and women are different.
I'm sure that there's a lot of 19-year-old males who'd date a 26-year-old woman but they don't want to date him.

That's why.

I don't think you can answer this question in the abstract. I think it depends entirely on the individuals. I think there are 19 and 26 year olds who are perfectly compatible and can have a great well balanced relationship. I think you have to see the people and the relationship before you can form a view on whether it is "weird". It is probably more likely to be weird than a 24 and 26 year old, but I don't think we can write it off based on ages alone. People vary!!

I find it weird, and the reason I find it weird is evidenced right here on this thread, and in real life, in that 95% of the time its an older man and a younger woman.
If its so normal and fine and nothing to see here, why dont we see it equally across the sexes?
If there's absolutely nothing to see here, then why is it men all the time? Why is it the gender who at a statistical level, carries out the highest levels of abuse, grooming, pedophilia? If it really is a case of you just fall for who you fall for and has no root in patriarchy at all, why is it SO common for one gender not another?

Motives? I'm 46 (m) and my wife is 30, we met at work, she asked me out, I initially declined, she asked again, we went out, got on like a house on fire - got married, had family.

Doesn't have to be some dark anterior motive just because there is an age gap.

I think it is weird as well, regardless of the sexes.

But the weirdest would be if the 26 year old is female and the 19 year old male.

It’s weird right?
Not really. Do you think people only date people who are exactly the same age as them?

There’s a decent age gap there but it’s a bit much to say it’s weird. There’s five years between me and DH; there’s ten years between a couple of our friends; there was six years between my grandparents. I don’t think it’s that unusual.

I mean each other own my aunty and uncle met at 19 and 35 in the army. By 22 and 38 they were married and had their first baby. She’s now 42 & he’s 58 still together 3 kids down the line. He is looking forward to retirement and being a kept man 😂 he did get a lot of stick for it from his brothers (my dad and uncles) winding him up but it’s their life. My partners 10 years older than me. We both have kids no plan for any more and on the same page about everything so it works for us. Although he’s a big kid sometimes feels like there’s 4 kids sometimes xx

There's only one weird person in this scenario and it's neither ther 26 year old nor the 19 year old.
If you feel so strongly about it why not tell them to their faces that it's disgusting