I am 65 and really enjoy women who are 50 and older. The visual experience for me is not all about perfection and youth. I see experience in a mature woman. It’s not because I can’t get younger women anymore, I still have plenty of opportunities, I just prefer older. If I try to visualize myself with a 30 year old I feel like an old pervert, my brain just doesn’t go there anymore.
[Broadbrush generalizing]
Women are valued for physical attractiveness.
Men are valued for money and wealth.
Physical attractiveness is more abundant in youth.
Money and wealth is more abundant with age.
Women are more valued in youth.
Men are more valued with age.
[/Broadbrush generalizing]
In a nutshell, this is the standard evolutionary explanation, especially among fans of sociobiology.
The sex I’ve had with women over 30 has been, without exception, better than any sex I’ve had with women under 30. Now that my wife and I are on the far side of 50, I can add some nice things to say about that age group too.
IMHO, your top end (27) is much too low. Hell, Scarlett Johannson, at 29 as noted above, would be somewhat over the hill by your reckoning.
This is also one of ultimate YMMV issues, of course. I would also probably define “appeal” as a somewhat different, overlapping dimension as “f***able”).
I think it also depends on how well a woman takes care of herself. A woman who takes care of herself when she is young will continue to have a desirable and naturally youthful appearance. These will end up being the women people use as examples when they say they prefer older women. However, if a woman neglects herself both physically and mentally when she is younger, when she is older she will more likely be put in the “too old, too fat, too crazy, too used-up” category.
Men don’t face the same type of value judgements, for men it tends to be things like social status, stability, sense of humour, etc. But as men age, they in theory have MORE time under their belt to develop these qualities, while for women as time passes they are working against the clock IRT cultural perceptions of beauty, fertility, and available partners.
Yep. That’s not going to change for a long time. It’s hardwired in humans - men want a mate that can produce a healthy baby. Women want a mate who can provide for the baby.
It’s going to take evolution a while to catch up, even as the real stressers behind these preferences become less and less important. Women provide, and can be fertile later into life, but our hormones won’t adjust for a while.
But JGL does look younger than his age by quite a bit, he still barley looks mature, in fact no, I just looked at some photos of him and there is still a really 9 year old boyish quality to his face.
But yes woman do start earlier, I was checking and girls start puberty 1 year earlier than boys, they already look feminine where a boy of the same age does not look fully masculine often. They do better at school earlier than boys.
And men often take longer to act in a mature way I think.
Of course not only does this equalize things for women a bit, they have an advantage at the other end, they live longer.
You’re cherry-picking your examples. Scarlett Johansson looked like an adult woman when she was 19; she’s got a mature appearance to her and a low voice that suggests age. Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks much younger than he is; I’m honestly surprised he’s older than Johansson.
It’s generally unusual for very young women to play older women - in fact the only other really glaring example I think think of is Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook” (who has many of the same mature-woman markers Johansson has; round face, full figure, doesn’t have a high pitched voice, and the additional feature of being quite tall, which implies age.) It’s more common for adults to be asked to play teenagers - heck, look at “Glee,” where every significant role of female “high school student” are played by women who were in their 20s when the show started. Amber Riley and Dianna Agron both turn 28 soon. And that’s nothing; look at Stockard Channing playing a hilariously-obviously-in-her-30s Rizzo in “Grease.”
I don’t know, maybe I have a lech for young flesh and skin but below-27 women simply have that thing to their faces, skin and bodies that make you forget 19 years of education and upbringing.
No offense, but MOST men over the age of 40 or 45 are not all that attractive either. Once the waist of their pants and belts are UNDER the beer gut, its over.
Having just returned from a beach resort in Mexico I can report that this measure knocks out most of the men over 25 as well.
Men don’t age better than women. It’s just that nobody cares what they look like.
Well since the boys in the boys club vote for the Oscars that may explain why hot young actresses can win best actress but dashing young leading man types can’t win best actor. So when Depp, DiCaprio, Pitt and company start to look more like Day-Lewis, Bridges, Benigni and company then they can have one.
…and the youngest Oscar best Actor is: Adrien Brody at 29 for “The Pianist.” I’d say partly for acting ability, for looks, and the quality of the competition for that year. The top-10 youngest were below 35 when they received their bald statues.
I’m not sure we should be talking about famous actors. In general they’re in the top .01% of humanity in terms of attractiveness, so they totally skew the discussion. The bottom line here, I think, is that standards of attractiveness for both genders are being established by men. So there’s a lot of leeway for men in terms of attractiveness and not so much for women. I think there have been some studies that show men will choose youth (because fertility) over beauty if they have to pick one, so that could be one important data point.
Even in my early twenties I thought women were at their most attractive in their forties. Now that I’m married to a woman in her forties, I feel the same way. Of course she was also hot when me met in her late twenties.
[QUOTE=SanVito ]
Having just returned from a beach resort in Mexico I can report that this measure knocks out most of the men over 25 as well.
Men don’t age better than women. It’s just that nobody cares what they look like.
[/QUOTE]
Fat men aren’t fat. Only fat women are fat.
Seriously though. Not only are you correct. Everyone over 40 seems to think that when they were under 20, they would have been cast as extras on Gossip Girl (or whatever teen show).
I feel like when I was in my 20s, I assumed people were a lot younger than they were.
I agree that it is probably an evolutionary thing that makes younger women seem more attractive and older men seem more attractive. I personally find older men more attractive, both those that are only a few years older to those that are 20 years older.
On a slight side note, I think that women tend to look younger when they have good skin. By that I mean more elasticit in their skin which means it appears tighter with less wrinkles.
^
And still with baby fat (whatever the scientific term for that.) My best illustration would be in the way ScarJo’s and Taylor Swift’s faces are evolving right before our eyes.
One thing I like about having gotten older is that I am out of the attractiveness sweepstakes. From this side of the divide, I am amazed at how ugly it all is.
Life is much better when smart, and kind, and honest, and strong * mean more than attributes better suited to a wall decoration than a partner.
- And cunning. Duplicitous perhaps. Certainly ruthless.
[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
An older woman is less fertile, and humans tend towards monogamy. Therefore younger is better in reproductive terms, since that maximizes her fertile period - in other words, blame monogamy. Non-monogamous male chimps don’t care about how old a female is.
On the other hand from a Darwinian female point of view an older male is one who has proven himself, especially in the far more dangerous societies of pre-history. He also tends to have higher status and more wealth. And, males don’t completely lose fertility until they die.
[/QUOTE]
It never fails to amaze me what characteristic people still seem to think are selected for evolutionarily. Or that the only evolutionary pressure on the female is the attention and the desire of the male.
Or that evolutionary biologists universally assume females always make rational decisions based on an accurate cost-benefit analysis, while males are held hostage by their sperm.
The ladies should be flattered, I guess.
Whoa, what’s that? You think the guys in the Hollywood Boys’ Club are simply unable to conceptualize women outside of their desirability to men? Just like evolutionary biologists? What a concept. Here, have a beer.
No, what was I thinking - have a glass of white wine.