Every so often you’ll be walking along and see an old bastard – looking like he’s already got one foot in the grave – walking around with a blonde bombshell half his age under his arm, and you’ll think to yourself, “How the hell did he pull that off?”
We don’t know the an$wer and we probably never will, but one thing’s for sure – once there’s a certain age gap between a woman and a prospective man, the old codger has no chance.
At least that’s the news coming out of a study in Finland, which revealed for most women, age isn’t just a number, but may also be a big turnoff.
The researchers asked the study participants to list the youngest and oldest ages of people they would have sex with, then list the youngest and oldest ages of people they have had sex with.
Related: Does Age Really Matter in Relationships?
The results found (unsurprisingly) that men – regardless of their age – prefer to have sex with women in their 20’s, while women preferred partners slightly older than themselves.
For each year a woman aged, the youngest man she’d consider sleeping with went up by 4.5 months, while men’s crept up by only 2 months.
The average straight woman in the Finnish study was 35 – the youngest man she’d consider having sex with was, and the oldest 46 – but the youngest she’s actually had sex with was 33, and the oldest 38.
For men, the average straight male was 37 – the youngest woman he’d sleep with was 21, the oldest 49 – but the youngest he’s actually slept with was 31, and the oldest 37.
So while men of all ages are keen to get it on with much younger counterparts, it just ain’t happening: you’ll have to settle with a woman closer to your own age range.