Cougar Phenomenon Now A Myth

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Cupid strikes his arrow on elderly women who now fall in love with younger men. According to a major study of profiles that were listed on lonely hearts website it is said that the so called 'cougar' phenomenon has now been declared a myth. After an analysis of 22,400 profiles from dating websites it was said that there is no significant group of older women who are seeking younger men for long-term relationships.

At the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, from the Department of Psychology ,Dr Michael Dunn stated that single women were almost universally found to be looking for men around their own age or older. On asked if this so-called cougar or toy boy effect is a myth, he stated that, “ Yes I do believe the cougar phenomenon is a myth and, yes, (it is) a media construct."

He also added saying that ," Who benefits from this perpetuated myth? ... this is mostly speculative but a clear beneficiary would be the ''cougar'' or ''toy-boy'' dating agencies themselves."

Dunn's researchers logged on to some of the world's most popular dating websites to glean data from the profiles of singles based in 14 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. The researchers noted their age as well as the preferred age range of their perfect match, it was done on all of the singles who were 20 to 50 years of age.

The study showed the rising media portrayal of "sex-role reversal lifestyles''- such as older women seeking younger men - was “in no way reflective of the desires evident in the general population". But instead , there was a consistent consistent cross-cultural preference by women for at least same-age or significantly older men.

Dunn stated that Australian men preferred younger women but they tended to nominate a less dramatic age gap, and they were the least likely of those studied to rule out dating cougars. He added that ," When it comes to the gender that desires a dramatically younger partner then, men win hands down."

There were exceptions in Australia particularly where there was also "copious evidence revealing a distinctive preference by men for youthful women''
He further added that , “ Not once across all ages and countries ... did females show a preference for males significantly younger than male preferences for females."

Cougar Dating is becoming very common all around the world.