2008 Woodie Awards
Age doesn't matter for Hollywood couples
What about real life couples and the trials they have to face?
Jesse Batson
Issue date: 4/5/05 Section: Juice: Life
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What's in a number? Fifteen players on the baseball field are too many and you need two to tango, but when it comes to relationships, do numbers really matter?
Taking a look around the media, there are an increasingly large number of age gaps in relationships. Not only are there large age gaps, but also the roles are starting to be reversed. Instead of seeing a 40- year-old male with a 20-something female, more "mature" women are snagging men in their mid-20s. Is this a trend and will it have any effect on our culture?
Ronald Stover, marriage andthe family professor, says that when it comes to marriage, the Hollywood stars aren't exactly the most reliable examples of love to look at.
"You need to be very careful about using famous people because their marriages are under tremendous stress and no telling what's going to happen with those," Stover says.
Hollywood relationships may not last very long, but they do have an impact on our culture. Jeff Heinle, a professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Theatre, says that media representations usually reflect what is happening in our culture.
So, what is the status quo for our culture? Are people more willing to get involved with someone who has a considerable age difference?
"An age difference is okay, but I think there's a line that can't be crossed," freshman Amber Schoenfelder says. "If you're a 60-year-old guy and you are dating a 20-year-old girl, there's a line that shouldn't be crossed."
Schoenfelder, 19, is currently seeing a 26-year-old man.
"Generally in society, if one is going to be older, it's going to be the male. There are certain women that like younger men, but it's just kind of a fact of human nature that women mature quicker than men do, so it's just sort of natural for a younger woman to date an older man," Schoenfelder says.
The reason for a female's attraction to an older man, Stover says is simple: Women like to marry up.