Men at 50 (and why they're superior)

*edited for even more whining*


Men, like wine, cheese, and certain types of ham, often become better with age.  This is as obvious to me as, oh, I don’t know, the nose on my face, for example.  I don’t think I have a fetish, and I don’t collect men in their late forties/early fifties (though I sort of wish I could, you know, for later), but I did, in a way, take it as a given that men at that age were generally acknowledged to have a certain I-don’t-know-what that the French like to call a certain I-don’t-know-what (I translated that for you. You’re welcome).  James Bond has never been twenty.  Nor has Harrison Ford, as far as I’m concerned. 

So I have been marveling while I watch a discussion taking place on a certain Gold Box Forum in which a man, around the age of 50, asked if it was possible that women in their twenties and thirties might possibly be interested in him, because it seemed as though they were.  Yes, a few said, it is within the realm of possibility, because girls think old guys have money.  But most said, ick, eww, yuck, you’re delusional, that couldn’t happen because it’s creepy. (In fairness, a couple did say “heck yes, men that age are fine.) 

Now, my own inclinations aside, is it really that difficult to see where the interest might be? How many men are paraded in front of us, as a society, who are over forty and deemed “the sexiest man alive”? A bunch, if you want a non-mathematical number.  A whole bunch.  George Clooney, Brad Pitt, all of the James Bonds, Colin Firth, the aforementioned Harrison Ford, Cary Grant, Kyle Chandler, who only looks like he’s twenty-five, and goodgodman, many more, are all well over forty and not a one of ‘em is worse for the wear.   We, as a culture, have set this standard. It’s the same standard that for years insisted that a woman over the age of thirty was a dried-up old prune, which has thankfully begun to shift a little.

Perhaps for some people it is about the presumed financial security an established man can offer, a sort of primordial instinct, and real physical attraction never plays into it.  I don’t know about those people. I think those might be the same people whose first question to a man is “what do you do for a living?” or “what kind of car do you drive?”  Me, I don’t look to a man to support me. That’s my job.  What I do look to a man for is companionship, a sense of humor, kindness, and make-me-quiver-to-my-knees kissing and, well, you know.  And lots of that last one. And that’s often, though not always, where a few extra years come in handy.  Often (though not always), young men need to sow some wild oats and get in some practice before they are ready to think about what women want.  Add to that the confidence and self-assuredness that comes with age, the comfort with one's self that begins to emerge, and it makes even more sense. Why would anyone be surprised that people would find a confident, self-assured man physically desirable? George Clooney was kind of ordinary before he hit forty, but he’s been strangely appealing since then, and though Kyle Chandler as always been freakin’ adorable, well, nothing, he’s always been freakin’ adorable and I suspect he always will be. Sigh.  I need to see Super 8.

Not that I ever have a point, but if I did, it would probably be something like this: if a girl who is in her twenties or thirties digs a guy who is in his forties or fifties, don’t judge.  We are culturally conditioned to acknowledge the appeal of men-of-a-certain-age, it might even be hard-wired in, and ultimately, what’s so wrong with it anyway?