Cougars - Older Woman~Younger Man

 “Dating should be less about matching outward circumstances than meeting your inner necessity." - eathian

The cougar aka puma, mountain lion, panther, is native to the Americas, from the Yukon to the Andes of South America. This cat is the second heaviest on the American continents behind the jaguar. It is a reclusive cat, they are lone hunters, and maintain home ranges of up to 100 miles. The cougar is mainly active at dawn and dusk. A competent stalk-and-ambush prowler, the cougar tracks a wide assortment of prey. Mothers and kittens live in together, with adult males and females meeting only to mate. So than why are human woman who date younger man called Cougars?

Several travel companies have instituted special trips such as Carnival Cruise lines offering a international single cougar cruise organized by Singles Travel Company. There is not much new under the sun when it comes to May-December relationships be it older women-younger men or older men-younger women.

Cougar relationships are often the main theme of movies like Stella Got Her Groove Back and Cougar Club as well as TV series such Cougar, and even a reality show. Trying to find a new approach to the type is difficult since this topic keep resurfacing. When writing this hub I never realized the content is duplicated. I didn't think there was that many articles - wrong!

It seems Americans as well as the rest of the modern world, have a fascination with aging. While older men and younger women - not girls - is pretty much accepted, there is a disapproval for older women and younger men. If there are studies done on the subject then it's pretty much a fact, someone somewhere at sometime wrote the same content some writer will - unless one is a cougar writing from personal experience. The challenge is to write something new on a really old subject!

A Cougar is a woman over the age 40 years-old, who take pleasure in the dating company of younger men. According to the BBC article, the percentage of brides in England and Wales marrying a younger man rose from 15% to 26% in the years from 1963 to 1998. The Office for National Statistics report stated a sample of celebrity couples would be Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, Emma Thompson and Greg Wise and Madonna (50 something) and Brazilian model Jesus Luz (20 something).

Famous or Infamous Cougars

1. The Hulk's ex-wife 50 something Linda Hogan began dating her son’s friend when he was a 19-year-old.
2. Halle Berry had a daughter with Gabriel Aubry, 10 years her junior.
3. Sandra Bullock dated actor Ryan Gosling with a 16 year age difference.
4. Mariah Carey married Nick Cannon in April 2008.
5. Kim Catrall has dated several younger men much like her character in the TV series, Sex in the City. At 51 years old she dated 28 year old Canadian chef Alan Wyse.
6. A famous married couple is Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Demi is 15 years older than her husband, and have been together since 2003.
7. Before breaking up older Susan Sarandon was partnered with younger Tim Robbins. They have two children together. Ms Sarandon 63 is rumored to be dating Jonathan Bricklin, 31.
8. Ms Sarandon’s co-star in Thelma and Louise movie, Geena Davis is married to Dr. Reza Jarrahy 15 years his senior. They have three children.
9. Katie Couric is dating Brooks Perlin, 17 years his senior.

As you can see there is any number of the rich and famous older woman-younger man couples. For the less famous there are websites such as, dateacougar.com, gocougar.com, or cougared.com. Just to be fair, there are websites called SugarDaddyforMe.com and SugarDaddie.com, but that’s another hub.

So please comment: Do you think it’s a big deal for older woman to date/marry younger man?

Do you think the term cougar is derogatory?