Do you prefer to date people your own age?

Gay male, and I never cared about anyone’s age. My partner is 20 years younger than I am, and I’d feel the same if he were 20 years older.

Oh, and I’m 64.

I’m 24 and a gay woman and my last 3 relationships have been 3, 12 and 6 years my senior. I’m currently dating someone who is 21,which something I never thought I would do, but to be honest she is probably more mature (owns her apartment, has an interesting career) than my last girlfriend who was 27. We make jokes about me being a ‘cougar’.

Hmm, maybe the women in my family aren’t a fair representation of the universe. Not that the SDMB is either, but still. I tend to like men around 10 years older than I am. I don’t plan this, but the two men I’ve loved the most, ever, and still have a warm spot for are 6 and 10 years older than I. Well, there’s another man who is 21 years older, but we were never in a relationship, and I won’t go there. I don’t have any age specifications, and don’t turn anyone away due to age; I just find the people I like the most usually hover around 10 years my senior.

It’s not even about men or dating, I’ve come to realize. Most of my friends fall into 5-15 years older than I am. My two very best friends in town are 11 and 15 years older than I. When I first started my position at work, everyone thought I would get along best with the other young girl, for no reason other than we were both young girls*. What’s best is the comments we received about being so similar because we both have cute shoes and earrings! That means we’ll be best of friends!! I’m so glad that the things you find most pertinent about us is our shoes! She’s okay, but the gal who I love the best, and has become a friend outside of work is 15 years older than I am.

For a somewhat young lady, I’m mean and old, and my favorite people are mean and old. People in their late 20s haven’t built up the balance between optimism and joie de vivre, and cynicism and all out brow-beaten misanthropy yet.

*I had a job where everyone thought I’d become besties with the other black person, and I did, but that’s because he was frickin’ hilarious. Possibly subconsciously because he was black. Kill whitey. No, no, I kid whitey. I kid because I love.

53, straight male. I like them breathing. On their own too.

I am a 24-year-old woman and my BF of 5 years is 41. We’re a very good match in pretty much every way you can be compatible, and we have more in common than I do with most of my peers. I have interests and hobbies that aren’t age specific.

While I never liked boys my own age (my solution was to not date at all during high school), I don’t have enough dating experience to truly say that I like dating older people specifically. And I never imagined the love of my life would be 17 years older than me. Were I to ever date again, I think the older I got, the more emotionally mature men in my peer group would be, so the less I would feel the need to date men older than me.

You know, that’s an excellent point. And same here.

My two best friends are 11 and 12 years older than me. On Saturday night I went out with one friend who is 4 years older than me, and another who is 10 years older than me (and I have more in common with the latter). Of my other good friends, two are my age and the rest are 2-5 years older than me. So, maybe not as dramatic, but also a “hang out with people who are older than me” trend.

And your asterisk note made me laugh out loud, btw.

I’d go about 6 years younger/older, but I’m flexible. I once dated a guy who was 14 years younger than me.