I'm in my 40s. How old should the women I date be?

the 26 year old isn't even hot.

OH my life.... that haircut!! Whoever thought that was a good idea. Very unusual.

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I pressed that once. Why is it being so titty.

While I mostly agree with this the fact is nearly everyone has to settle so I don't think it's fair to fault them. mathematically it's nearly impossible to find the person that matches everything on our list and matches the same back. Even celebs and billionaires have terrible relationships and their dating pool is a million times bigger than the common person.

We all settle. My issue, from a male centric perspective, is that the contemporary Western male will live in denial and sort of ice out anyone who isn't mired in the same low grade misery most marriages end up being. I was talking with a coworker who grew up in Africa and he mentioned to me how weird it is that there are no male spaces or sense of camaraderie amongst men in Western countries. In his city in Africa, the men would always go to a restaurant or pub for a couple of hours to BS with other guys before going home.

That doesn't happen in Western countries because men are simultaneously miserable and self righteous in the "devotion" they show to their families by bravely being a piece of furniture at home all the time. When is the last time your married male friends actually had a fun hours long meet up? Compare that to their wives... How many ladies nights do they revel in? I'll take your comments of the air hyuk hyuk.

I got married for the first time at age 49. At age 42, I could see myself running out of dates but I moved from Boston to Chicago in 1985 walked into my new office and there she was. She was my employee but not for long. She left for a better paying position. But we talked a lot and I helped her adjust in her new job. The best parts of every woman I had ever met all rolled into one. She was 39. Luckiest day of my life. Fast forward to 2022, still married. And taking the absolute best care of me while I slowly die. So she’s out there for you. Have faith!

Depends on if you are immature or a loser or not.

If you are NOT immature or a loser, then you should stick to women who are about your age.

If you ARE immature or a loser, then you should be responsible enough to leave ALL women alone regardless of their age.

This is sound advice. 8-10 years max, younger or older.

Maybe you don’t spend time with the bros, but many men do. There are weekend hunting groups, morning runs, smoke circles, bars and cigar shops with regular clientele, board/video game nights etc going on all around you. You have to cultivate those relationships though. They don’t automatically happen anymore. In the past, when men dominated social circles, they happened automatically because the people you encountered in public were mostly men. Now you have to be more deliberate. Only men who are good at scheduling and are smart enough to avoid dependent, clingy partners get to enjoy male camaraderie. Such is the modern social landscape, and it is our job to adapt.

At least 18

If you're seeking dating advice on LRC I think you should probably accept a life of singledom. This is sad.

Ok, so your dating advice to find a suitable female for someone is to spend all your prefered time with the "bros"? LMAO. This is sadder than the original post.

Whatever age you want (legally). Isn't this america? Don't be a puss boi.

Agreed that at 40 if you don't know, you will likely lurch from one relationship disaster to another.

It depends on:

- Your personal preferences

-How swayed you are by how friends/relatives think about your choices

- Whether you want a girl who is vulnerable or confident. A lot of men settle for the former, as a starter wife and then have affairs

- Whether high quality women won't be put off by something you do/the way you look/your background. Many women avoid men with a certain background, or who talk in an offputting way - e.g. mentioning or echoing Andrew Tate.

Like many posters, the older I get, the more I think upwards of a 7 year age gap is difficult to work with unless theres some form of exploitation/manipulation/odd going on. Younger women can be annoying because they are immature and not at the same stage of life as you. I do have a former male friend of 41 who married a near 60 year old woman and changed religions in order to do so, and thats clearly some kind of gerophylia/mother fixation. Now thats wierd!

Legally, whatever the age of consent is in your jurisdiction.

Get a 50-year old hottie who knows a lot of yoga positions. All I can say, there is a certain point in their, um, development where there is a second flowering, and it's fun to try to keep up with a woman's ZEST for LIFE, so to speak.

Maybe I haven't worded that in the best possible way, read 'common' as 'not uncommon'. You can find numerous examples. Like gentlemen of classic English (why limit to English, check "Anna Karenina") literature deciding to settle down not sooner than they're 30-something, or ancient Romans (those more likely to re-marry after their 1st wife died in childbirth), etc.

That mostly concerns privileged classes. For peasants, while average lifespan was indeed like 30 years, people didn't really die of old age at 35, they died young because of war, famine or infectious disease. Until early modernity peasants weren't usually drafted as soldiers as war was a noble pursuit. So I would say it's quite possible that quite a few men survived into their 40s and re-married. So many fairy tales mention an evil stepmother.

But that's besides the point, really. Point being the attempt to stigmatise dating someone 10-15 years younger is really made up and baseless, and not even that fun unlike some other troll topics so I don't understand why is it coming up again and again and had to rant ;)

No, my advice for maintaining male camaraderie is to spend time with the bros. My dating advice for OP is to prioritize women who are +\-10% of your age. Anything way outside of that range creates a destabilizing power mismatch.