Sunday, August 19, 2007

THE UNWITTING SUGAR MUMMY

Yesterday a friend of mine chatted up a 21 year old guy. Now considering she is 29 , most people I know would gasp in horror at her sugar mummy antics, but in her defense she had no idea he was 8 years younger than she was. And she doesnt look 29, neither does he look 21 so she could be forgiven for thinking he was older.
It all happened at this wedding we attended. Having scouted the room she spotted this cute guy sitting quietly in the corner. Normally she wouldn't dare approach a guy, but my other friend ( I shall refer to her as the persuader) had been psyching her up all evening to talk to this guy and would not get off her case until she took the bold step to do so. So she finally plucked up the courage to do it and they ended up talking and dancing for like an hour. At the end of the night when the persuader asked if he took her number and my friend replied to the contrary, she then made inquiries to find out more about the guy and discovered (to our amusement) that she was practically old enough to be his mother!! (okay, okay I exaggerate just a little bit. lol)
My poor friend now feels like a cradle-snatcher, but I was encouraging her to look on the bright side; at least she got to dance with a cute guy and having a good time, which is something we rarely get to have at these affairs.
Which brings me to my question; this is mostly directed at the girls, but guys please feel free to volunteer your opinions. Would you date a guy who was younger than you? (and vice versa for the guys) and if so how much younger?
I, personally, am not an advocate for dating guys much younger than me, but one has to look at the bigger picture. If he has everything going for him, is level-headed, mature, responsible, etc the fact that he happens to be younger than me shouldn't necessarily be a big deal, but then again, some girls have a real issue with this.
On the flip side, look at the growing trend of sugar mummies who seem to be making it work - Demi Moore & Ashton Kutcher, Madonna & Guy Ritchie, etc (not that I'm aspiring to date a guy who is 20 years younger than me; that's taking it a bit too far, dont you think??)
So, back to my question - how young is too young?