Dating someone older or younger- seriously.

[tarchon]

Unless you find people asking you "have you seen Harold and Maude?" a lot, or calling the police, you're probably OK.

 

[scruffygrognard]

I met my wife when I was 24 and she was 19... sort of the reverse of your situation. At the time I felt that it would be wrong for me to ask her out (because she was still a teenager) and, for 4-and-a-half years, we went our different ways. We eventually started dating when I was 28 and she was 23 and got married 3 years later... even though she stopped gaming after a year of dating.

As long as your friend is too weirded out by the prospect of dating a younger man, I'd say go for it.

 

[BOZ]

the first girl i dated had just turned 19, and i was almost 25 (yeah, i know, nice guys do finish last). it only lasted two months. my wife is 2 months younger than me and we're doing fine. no idea if one thing has anything to do with the other, but there it is.

 

[BOZ]

This describes my wife & I almost perfectly. I'm 3 years older than she is, and we often find ourselves with different points of reference, especially with pop culture. I often say things like "Did you ever watch <insert long forgotten cartoon name here>?" and she gives me a blank stare.

i don't know how much the years have to do with it when there are only a few... this happens to us all the time, 2 month age difference and all. of course, for every time that does happen, we do catch a reference that we both remember, so go figure.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

My wife is almost exactly 3 years younger than I am.

My first girlfriend was about 2.5 years older than I was.

In the first case, our interests and world view just fit right together, which makes the age difference nil. In the latter case (which was obviousl chronologically first) the age was ancillary to larger problems that caused the breakup.

I'll say this: being on opposite sides of the "21" (US drinking age) gap is tough on a relationship, but not impossible to surmount.

When Kennon (The_Universe) and I first started dating, it was a little wierd for me. I was 17 and still in high school... by the time my senior prom rolled around, he was 21 and, because of school rules, could not accompany me... which caused a little frustration and mild angst in my high school state... but, that's okay because we got married... and a wedding dress is WAY better than a prom dress.

Every now and then, I would get a comment like "oh, you're dating a college guy - don't you know he's only after one thing?" But, that never bothered me because I knew just what he was *ahem* getting.

In general, my rule is, if you could have gone to high school with them, it's okay to date them.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

My last long-term girlfriend, Richmond Girl*, was 22 when I was 27. That wouldn't've been bad, *except* that she was 22 going on 12. She'd occasionally get bursts of surprising immaturity. That really wasn't cool.

I haven't dated anyone significantly older than me, though I've had flirtation of varying degrees of seriousness with three women at work, all of whom were at least 3 years older than me.

Brad

* - One of those women at work had an inability to remember the names of girls I liked, so giving them nicknames like "Nashville Girl", "Carrot Girl", and "Richmond Girl" were used. Strangely, one of those girls (Nashville Girl), when I told her about it later, thought it cool, and has used it with her boyfriends since.

 

[Felix]

[mysogony, or however you bloody well spell it!]

Date older women for a while, and then marry a younger woman.

Older women are... frisky... to be sure, and they know what they're doing. Give it a try, eh. And then you can mold your younger woman future wife to suit you while you sire boys to carry your name!

[/mysogony. Hee hee!]

I'm dating a gal 5 years older and the most awkward thing about it is that I've no idea what to say while I'm conversating with her friends. They're all big into the working life, and here I am having waded through Undergrad and some Graduate courses and now Law school; I've little to say that they can relate to.

She, on the other hand... we relate very well.

Older women, mate. Older women.

 

[Old One]

It has been said a couple of times, but age disparities tend to dissipate the older you get (at least from a social acceptance standpoint). There are still dichatomous gender "norms"...at least here in the US, where the "older man/younger woman" pairing tends to receive much more social acceptance than the opposite. I do think it is difficult for others to accept dating anyone outside your age strata until you are "out in the real world" - ie, high school dates high school, college dates college, etc. Not saying that it is fair...that is just the way it is.

Once you are out in the working world, I think the social stigma relaxes a good deal, as trophy wives (and increasingly, trophy husbands) are almost the rule in certain social/business circles.

In my own experience, I tended to date girls that were +/- 1-3 years in age for most of my dating career. The ex-Mrs Old One was three years younger than me and that marraige was an unmitigated disaster. The current (and future) Mrs. Old One is 10 years my junior (42 to 32), although I have known the family for 23+ years (we even had a drunken make-out session at her brother's wedding when she was a week shy of her 17th birthday and I was 27, so it must have been fate). The age difference has not been an issue for us and we have 2 great kids.

Now, her brother (one of my best friend since high school days and also 42) is dating a 20-year old (and has been dating her since she was 18). Most of the men in the family thought it was "cool" - at least in the beginning - but when the women in the family found out, they went ballistic ! Now he can't get rid of her and she has turned out to be somewhat of a drama queen/psycho with an Oedipus complex (the old Seinfeld adage - "The break-up didn't take" )! I must admit, the longer he sees her, the creepier it gets!

~ OO

 

[pogre]

In other words, 34 year old man (or woman) and 15 year old girl is NOT OK. 15 year old girl and 17 year old guy is probably not illegal and neither is 17 year old girl and 19 year old guy.

Not in Illinois and not according to the Model Criminal Code followed by many states. Sexual contact on anyone under the age of consent is a crime - even by another under the age of consent. Admittedly the penalties go up significantly if the age difference is more than five years apart.

 

[pogre]

I dated a woman 17 years my senior when I was in law school. We met working out in the gym - I thought she was younger and she thought I was older. Once we discovered each other's ages it was a little strange. We dated for 6 months or so and nobody except my Mom gave me a hard time about the age gap. Your friends will give you a rough time about your girlfriend no matter what - I wouldn't sweat an age difference as long as she is legal.