A discussion on a morning radio show got me thinking about this. Adult women are allowed to make sexually suggestive comments about young (teenage) boys, but when grown men admit to finding a teenage girl sexually attractive, they’re labeled as perverts.
I have to admit that this is something I’d never really given much thought to before. I work with a few women ranging in age from 25 to 40. They do it all the time, and no one raises an eyebrow, but – heaven forbid – if one of my male co-workers was standing there washing his hands in one of our new Kohler faucets and made a comment like, “If I was ten years younger I’d show her a thing or two,” and directed it toward, say, the 19-year-old college intern that worked on our drafting department for a short while, I guarantee you from that moment on he’d be considered the office creep.
On the flip side, some of my male friends have told me many times that during their teenage years, the ultimate fantasy for them was to hook up with an older woman. Do young girls fantasize about older men the way young boys seem to do this with older women?
What’s up with this double standard? Also, discuss any other double standards that irritate you.