2008 Woodie Awards
Age ain't nothing but a number
Lily Hatfield
Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: Life!
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I have often discussed social rules of the College: treating people right, not puking on someone's floor and refraining from stealing anything from the room of a hook-up, no matter how highly the item is coveted. These rules don't just apply to the College, in fact, our dating world is very carefully regulated by a so-called rule book of acceptable romantic behavior. When one of these rules is challenged, you are going against years and maybe even centuries of proper social-sexual activity. One of these rules has come up a lot in the last few weeks of school and I wanted to examine it from both sides: the AGE rule.
As a rule, college women are supposed to date men who are older than themselves. A man being a few months younger is acceptable as long as he is in your same grade or really hot. For college guys, the line is clearly drawn with the high school mark.
But what about a senior woman hooking-up with and possibly even dating a freshman or sophomore man? I believe the male friends of the guy would be hooting and hollering, cheering on their boy who made it with a woman three years older than himself.
But what about the woman? There is a serious stigma against dating younger men here on campus. When new guys are at a party, visiting for the night, I often find myself asking them how old they are. I am 22 and am pretty open-minded as long as the guy is in college. But I feel I am an exception to the general attitude of the female population.
To some women, the idea of being with a younger man can bring forth many confusing emotions such as doubt about their ability to catch a guy your own age. A woman questions, "Will this younger man know what to do with my equipment or even his own? What will others say about it?" A friend of mine hooked-up with a young man of questionable age, who turned out to be a freshman from another college. We referred to him as a 12-year-old.
Personally, I say, "So what?" If you are feeling each other, and you want to get your groove on, go for it. Most of the bad stigma comes from people caring too much about what others think of them. If you are a senior woman and your boyfriend is a sophomore or freshman, it does not mean that you can't get older guys; maybe you have just been around the block and realized that "older" or "your grade" just weren't what you were looking for. Maybe you realized that a lot of 21 and 22 year-olds act like they are five.
As a rule, college women are supposed to date men who are older than themselves. A man being a few months younger is acceptable as long as he is in your same grade or really hot. For college guys, the line is clearly drawn with the high school mark.
But what about a senior woman hooking-up with and possibly even dating a freshman or sophomore man? I believe the male friends of the guy would be hooting and hollering, cheering on their boy who made it with a woman three years older than himself.
But what about the woman? There is a serious stigma against dating younger men here on campus. When new guys are at a party, visiting for the night, I often find myself asking them how old they are. I am 22 and am pretty open-minded as long as the guy is in college. But I feel I am an exception to the general attitude of the female population.
To some women, the idea of being with a younger man can bring forth many confusing emotions such as doubt about their ability to catch a guy your own age. A woman questions, "Will this younger man know what to do with my equipment or even his own? What will others say about it?" A friend of mine hooked-up with a young man of questionable age, who turned out to be a freshman from another college. We referred to him as a 12-year-old.
Personally, I say, "So what?" If you are feeling each other, and you want to get your groove on, go for it. Most of the bad stigma comes from people caring too much about what others think of them. If you are a senior woman and your boyfriend is a sophomore or freshman, it does not mean that you can't get older guys; maybe you have just been around the block and realized that "older" or "your grade" just weren't what you were looking for. Maybe you realized that a lot of 21 and 22 year-olds act like they are five.