Would this statement irritate you too?

[Wheretheresteqthereshope]

"Men fancy 20-24 year olds"

This is what my new partner of mere months said to me. I'm 34, the same age as him.

From talking to female friends who do online dating I think it's true. And I'm sure ive read articles about it so I guess he's just saying what he's also read.

My friends are in their 30s and the only men who contact them are in their 50s. The blokes in their 30s are chasing the women in their 20s!

Sounds to me like he was just making an observation. If he's had relationships with women his age and older than him doesn't sound like he only fancies women a decade younger than him.

I wouldn't date a man who only dated younger women.
I would however date a man who happened to date both older and younger women.

I'm on an on line dating site and have had lots of messages from much younger men.
I don't get messages from much older men - my cut odd is 5 years older than me, after last time I made sure my boundaries are set.

Made me laugh how men a lot older than me ( and they looked old too) would say age us just a number- well date someone 10 years older than
you are!

Also I believe women at 39 start finding younger men attractive, according to ok Cupid.

I'm in my 40s and I get a lot of attention from men aged around 20 plus.

Educate him how exactly? To lie or be more diplomatic?

Exactly! He said men fancy an age group now he needs educating. Good lord.

OP you should have said yes a bigger cock is always better.

How immature and silly such a comment would be.

Such a fuss over nothing.

emily Urrgh yes, men whose age range they are looking for does not include their own age. Yuck.

Yes it would irritate (and offend) me - because of the implication in the statement that they only fancy 20-24 yr olds, or that they fancy them more than women older than that age range.
My husband must be a freak then (not) for finding Saffron Burrows in Troy (then aged about 31) and Berenice Marlohe in Skyfall (then aged 31) to be as close to perfection as exists in looks & sexiness. (This was during a two-way conversation about who our 10's would be incidentally, not something he raised himself).

I fancy 20-24 year old men, I also fancy men up to their 70's; depends on the man.

Going for a certain age group, rather than meeting whoever and liking/fancying them regardless of age (within reason) is somwhat creepy and shallow .. no wonder you made the comment (and then got a worse comment back).

Incidentally most recent studies, I believe, say women are at their most fertile between 25 and 35. Likewise given the vast majority women 35-39 trying for a baby fall pregnant within a year (in the 80% range) - fertility, like looks is not an on/off, absolute issue.

My partner, in her 40's is as close to perfection as exists.

She is beautiful and I am attracted to her in all ways, more than any other woman I have met.

I was previously in a relationship with a woman in her 20's, who would be a '10' in most men's eyes, stunningly physically beautiful, driven, mature and intelligent. She would have gone to the end of the Earth for me, people didn't understand how I could have gotten so lucky. But that relationship did not work for me for a couple of reasons.

What works for me is a variety of things, but mostly the spark. Skin-deep beauty is by far not the most important thing.

And yes, it would irritate me.
It would make me feel very uncomfortable with the intelligence and character of the person who made it.

It would totally irritate me. I also hate the way he threw you a crumb off the table with the whole "but I couldn't be in a meaningful / long term relationship with one" about younger women.

Nasty, sexist rubbish - I'm insulted for women of all ages with that comment! I'm afraid I'd drop that twat like a hot potato but then I tend not to forgive and forget comments like that...

Incidentally most recent studies, I believe, say women are at their most fertile between 25 and 35

That's the most common age for western women to have babies. Thanks to contraception.

Women are at their most fertile (able to conceive) in their early twenties.

Saying "Men fancy 20-24 year olds", does not mean that men don't fancy women in other age groups. By that interpretation it would mean men don't fancy 19 year olds or 25 year olds.

If I say men fancy slim women, that is true for many men, it by no way means men don't fancy women who are bigger or overweight.

Just because I don't fall in the 20 - 24 year age group or the slim size 10 figure, doesn't offend me, especially in the context this was said here.

People like different ages, sizes, height and ethnic backgrounds ... so taking offence is overly insensitive.

If the OPs DP said that he was attracted to women in the 20- 24 age group, then understand all the upset and all the dump him comments.

He said 'many men fancy women aged 20-24' in defence of his friend, who op had called creepy for messaging women of that age.

First of all, it's a fact (all sorts of studies and statistics already mentioned).

Secondly, there was context as he was defending a friend.

Thirdly, he himself prefers relationships with women closer to his own age.

OP, if you want to dump him then do so but on its own this comment is harmless and anyone taking offence is over-sensitive IMO.

What next, scandal because a man says 'many men like attractive women' or 'many men like slim women'? Or a woman says 'lots of women like tall men'?

He didn't say 'women over 24 are not attractive to men' and interpreting it like that says more about the reader than him.

Of course they do, they also fancy 24-34 year olds, 34-44 year olds and 44+. After a seventeen year marriage crumbled and some online dating I found limiting myself to people younger than me (48) meant that I missed out on meeting women who were far more fanciable and interesting than someone twenty years younger with whom I have nothing in common.

Tell the dingbat you’re dating that women only fancy men with brains and he will die alone. Alternatively, come on to him, wait until he’s gagging for it and send him out to find a 20 to 24 year old.

WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid.
I was referring to a recent study (which I typically can't find now like I want to) that appeared to override the 'fact' that women are most fertile in their early 20's ... not to any assumptions based on the ages at which women most commonly now have children.

A quick search has not unearthed it, but another article claims 24 as a females's fertility peak, which is closer to 25 than 20/21.

Also the point I was making was that from 25 fertility drops relatively minutely and is not an on/off or even steep drop.

As an aside, It was recently reported that the 'fertility' rate (by which I assume they mean birth rate) of women aged 40 and above has surpassed that of women aged under 20 for the first time since 1947 (Office for National Statistics).

Professions of feminism are clearly just a figleaf for some people's low self esteem. If a woman in her 30s needs to call a man in his 30s disgusting for being attracted to a woman in her 20s, they need help.

mediation, exercise, therapy: it's just really sad that supposedly feminist independent women are so easily threatened.