It’s complicated: Age is just a number

Drake and Jennifer Lopez are rumoured to be dating and that particular fact had sent the Interweb into a frenzy few days ago. The media has gone ahead and called it the “biggest romance of 2017”. But aren’t we just over 30 days into the new year? A year that has also seen lakhs of people worldwide protesting against a man who is okay grabbing women by their genitals? So why the shock and awe when a woman of 48 has decided to have a partner of 30? Don’t we have more pressing issues to pay attention to? 

As we progress as a civilization, our problems from the past should stop “growing” with us. Single, rich and successful women in their 40s or 50s are no longer worried about men their age being interested only in 20-something girls. Simply because, they too are enjoying the dating life with the young and spirited. It’s good ol’, no-nonsense equality in thinking. 

After spending 14 years with a much older Rupert Murdoch, Wendi Deng is now seeing a 22-year-old Hungarian model. Wendi is three years older than his mother. Sam Taylor Johnson, director of Fifty Shades of Grey met her second husband, Aaron, when he was 19... she was 42. They made it official in 2012, and have two daughters. Supermodel Kate Moss, who is 42, is dating 29-year-old Count Nikolai Von Bismark. He is the son of one of her close friends. 

In this new-age contrast of numbers, there are surprises... yes. But ridicule? It’s almost as if 95 per cent of the male population will not fancy attention from a supermodel.

What many don’t understand is that while 20 and 30-year-olds may view someone in their 50s as “old”, the person in question doesn’t see herself, or himself, as a retiree. If you look around, there are so many 50-year-olds who can give the 20-somethings a complex in the body department. There has been a fitness revolution and women are increasingly fit. So, can you really blame a guy for finding these ladies hot? 

And forget those judgmental glances at what we are forced to call “social gatherings”. Some may even say the guy is a gold digger but who cares? You don’t end up marrying every person you date and just like how girls sometimes like the company of older men, the same philosophy holds true for guys too. It’s calming to date someone who has achieved goals.  

And to all those naysayers who go on and on about such relationships always ending in tears, dating someone your age or a few years older, doesn’t really guarantee permanency either.