I was 17; he was 30
I always preferred men over boys.
My biggest age gap has been three years, but…
It’s safe here to admit here that there was a 32 year age gap between my parents, and it’s not even one of the biggest age gaps around here. Amazing.
When I was 18, I dated a 39 year old man. Hell of a nice guy. My parents weren’t crazy about it, of course, but after they got to know him, they liked him. We were together for about three years. The “life experience” difference eventually broke us up, but it didn’t end badly, and I look back on that relationship very fondly.
I’ve always liked older men. Maybe it’s because my dad is such a nice guy. I don’t know. It’s not that I’ve wanted someone to take care of me or anything, but older men always just seemed to appreciate me as a person more than younger men. The aforementioned older man had four sisters and no brothers. He also grew up in the Sixties (this was 1986 when we started dating). He was very well acquainted with women’s issues, and treated me with a great deal of respect. Gave me a lot of encouragement, and even though I really was just a girl, he treated me like a grown woman. I appreciated that.
And yeah, the sex was great, too.
When I was 19 I went on a date with a guy who was 56.
I’m nearly 11 years older than my wife; that was easily my largest age difference with any of the women I’ve dated.
Her mother’s not quite 9 years older than me. Sometimes I tease her about my being closer to her mother’s age than hers. We’ve only been married 11 years, but I’m older now than her father was when I called up and asked him for permission to marry his daughter! That’s kinda strange to think about. 
I was 32, he was 22. OK, he was more like 22 going on 85 given his lack of a sense of humor and insane compulsions about money and time and work and such (he was a bank teller, for goodness sake.)
It lasted from just before Christmas to just after St. Valentine’s Day.
They say never start or end a relationship during the holidays…
They’re right.
When I was 26 I dated a 44 year old.
It actually worked out quite well for about half a year, and then she got a job offer that she couldn’t turn down in Boston, and so we broke up. I thought about relocating, but two things held me back: We hadn’t been going out long enough for following her out there to be a rational choice, and Boston is my least favorite city on the surface of the Earth.
Other people made the age difference out to be a much bigger deal than we ever did. Most of her friends kidded her about it, but liked me and didn’t have a problem with it, but her sister was freaked out by it and was actually quite nasty. That caused more problems between her and her sister than it did between us, though.
Most of my other relationships have been within 3 years one way or another, but most of those were in school, so you’re not likely to meet people with age differences much more than that. Unless you start dating a professor, which is a whole nuther can of worms.
Well, I haven’t dated anyone far from my age, but I’ve always understood the rule to be that you shouldn’t date anyone younger than half your age plus seven. Or I suppose that can be reversed and you shouldn’t date older than (your age)-7 doubled.
If you’re 34, date between 24 and 54.
If you’re 22, date between 18 and 30
If you’re 70, date between 42 and 126
and so on…
By that rule some of these don’t seem so bad.
I am currently dating someone who’s 18. I’m seven years older than that. It’s hard to find a girl any age with things in common with me so I’ll take who I can get.
When I was 16 had a few dates with 27 year old man.
My bf is 43, I am 27 - 16 year age gap. We met when I was 24 and he was a week before turning 40. I asked him out, I pursued it, he has never been out with someone as young as me (since being my age obvious) and is not a “cradle snatcher.”
If he was, or if at any time my age had been the “hook” for him, I would have ended it. To be honest I think the gap embarrassed him initially, and continues to to some degree, though it’s never been issue between us.
Despite my happy experience, I do think that large age-gap relationships being successful/a good thing are the exception rather than the rule. There are many, many hurdles to face in a lot of cases, and more often than not the reasons for such a big age gap are highly questionable.
I have met and been to dinner with guys (sometimes on my part naively thinking it would be a business dinner) who have told me that “they prefer younger women” “they don’t get on with women their own age” “younger women are more vibrant and enthusiastic” “they love a young spirit(!!)” “women their own age aren’t as much fun” etc.
Yuk yuk yuk and double treble yuk. Inadequate, vain, dirty old men in every case. As a women I also find it IMMENSELY insulting that by their opinion when I do reach 30/35/40 I am automatically “less fun” or “less vibrant” etc (ie - less perky, less attractive, less of a trophy).
Where do Dirty Old Men get the idea that a young woman would actually be flattered that you like her for her YOUTH???
My last GF is 52. (I’m 32.) It fell apart two years in.
The one before that was 20. That really didn’t work out. Seemed like a bigger difference, somehow-- probably because typically the age difference is in the other direction.
From the very beginning, I’ve gravitated toward women in their early-to-mid thirties, so the difference has, on average, lessened each time, from +18 years to about par. (Except the last and penultimate times, which were both kind of anomolies.)
Now I’m considering a nice longish period of abstinence.
(The woman I spend most of my time thinking about is a long-time friend, and deep-down I don’t think I’m good enough for her. Boo hoo.)
:twitch:
15 years (42/27 at that time). We are now married for almost three years and very happy. Age is not an issue if you find Mr. or Ms. Right.
I know y’all won’t believe me but I know of one relationship between
somebody 41 and somebody 100!!
She is having a wonderful time! She reckons she has a lot more fun than all the other old ladies at her age.
Didn’t she just get her own show on TV?
I went out with a 27 year old when I was 16. That didn’t seem that creepy at the time, but in retrospect I think to myself “Sheesh, I was so young and naive…wait, I STILL am young and naive…”
I’m now going out with a 25 year old and I’m 19.
I was 25, she was 36. It was nice (the sex was fantastic), the only problem was that she wanted kids NOW, and became just a bit unstable when I said I didn’t feel ready to get married and start a family.
The year that I was 31, I was shacking up with a 43 year old woman. After she and I went our seperate ways, I dated a 19 year old for a while.
Twelve years, either direction.
Not really any of my business, but since you’re gonna post juicy stuff like this, I gotta ask. Aren’t you worried your hubby will read this, or does he already know? Was he cool with it?
Oh, and just for the record my biggest gap was dating two 19-year olds when I was 30. My current GF is 24 and I’m 31. I think Scott said it best, she’s intellectually mature, emotionally immature.
My boyfriend is 17 years my senior, making him 57 years old. However, since he looks like he’s 45, and I look like I’m 22, and we’re both tall and have dark hair, we are often mistaken for father and daughter. That makes it especially fun to give him a big ole kiss on the lips, right out in public. Heh, heh.