Tuesday, March 25, 2008

An Age Old Question

We're in the process of editing a younger man/older woman story (ages 24 and 40), which has me thinking about May/December romances (which is hugely misleading since December implies we're in the last throes of our lives, lol). I have never considered these kind of things very risque or taboo (well, as long as the guy is legal). I'll read them because the leads are hot or because the story sounds interesting, but even though I'm at an age where this should probably be one of my fantasies, it's not.

I think it's primarily because my mother always dated younger men. My parents split up when I was only 7 and though she never remarried, she did date and have several long-term relationships. Every single one of them was with a man younger than her. When I was in college, she was the same age as the heroine we're writing now, and her boyfriend was 25. They were together for nearly 4 years. The boyfriend that came after was slightly older, but then so was my mother, so proportionally, it was the same.

I don't see anything wrong or unusual with these kind of relationships. At all. To me, it's as normal as seeing people of comparable age or a younger woman/older man. It's about compatibility. So what's the appeal? Is it wanting to feel young and attractive? My husband already does that for me. And frankly, any guy can make you feel like that if he's a keeper. So why do readers like this particular type of story?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

With me, I don't really care about age. If you can be happy with whoever you're with, that's more important.

I think the reason readers like older woman/younger man pairings is because it's not common. They probably just want a bit more variety in their romance. Of course, some people consider it a kink and enjoy it as such. I'm not really into kinks that much, but I never considered May/December relationships kinks or anything. I just like reading them because I like watching the characters work out the dynamic :)

-Maggie