Show of Hands

Justified.

Cougar is misused as well, men are threatened and have the need to “label” us sexual gals to feel better about themselves.
Don’t show up the cock, you might just bruise it’s little ego🙄

Double standard.
A woman being attracted to a younger man, is well, smart.
As per physiology.
An older man can’t keep up with a woman, sexually speaking. Hence all the Viagra commercials.
Face it boys. We get better and you lose your boners🤷🏻‍♀️
Sorry.

That distinction would be discriminatory, but as a woman I have never found “cougar” to be complimentary or intended as complimentary in any way.

There is a perception, not unreasonable, that an older man can exert power both physical and mental/emotional over a much younger woman thereby controlling her in all sorts of unhealthy ways. Otherwise he is infirm and stupid to be taken advantage of by some greedy young thing.

Older women are often portrayed as desperate, needy, and grasping: effectively setting themselves up for abuse, fraud, etc when involved with a much younger man. That is changing somewhat and more often she is powerful, arrogant and controlling.

I do not believe that either is viewed in a positive light.

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first of all, cougar has a negative connotation, and second of all, they would both be viewed negatively by society because the relationships are completely inappropriate. big age gaps are generally harmful to the much younger person and the older person, regardless of gender, is acting in a predatory manner by virtue of their involvement. period.

Dude, it's the complete opposite. Notice there isn't even slang for old man-young woman!

Double standard

you really think ‘cougar’ has no negative connotation? i wouldn’t agree with that.

I disagree with the premise of the poll; specifically that there are no negative connotations if the older person is a woman. I've seen plenty of mocking, disparaging, *very* negative comments about such women. (Therefore neither of the answer options were reasonable for me; I had to vote randomly in order to comment.)

You suggest that there may be negative thinking about the older man; but sometimes positive if he is "successful." I wonder if it is *mostly* women who view the older men negatively and *mostly* men who view the older women negatively. I suspect so, but I don't know for sure. I also suspect that the exact opposite is true for the sex that views "success" more positively but again I don't know for sure.

In both situations, I doubt that "success" changes anyone's judgement (or at least not very many); I think it's just different kinds of people having different opinions and sticking with them, whether the older person is "successful" or not.

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There are many double standard that exist. For instance, a man who sleeps with many women is considered a stud with a positive connotation, a woman who sleeps with many men is considered a slut with a negative connotation. I disagree that there is no negative connotation at all for women who are "cougars." I still see them in a negative light.

Neither, but it is a double standard.

Something that probably won't change

Men tend to look better as they age, up to a certain point. Women are usually the opposite.

I don't think it's justified unless accompanied by lewd behavior.
Actually, if a straight relationship is sought, it makes sense from a reproductive angle: a man is fertile into old age, a woman is not.