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Old Dec 03, 2014, 04:59 PM
Mygrandjourney Mygrandjourney is offline
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Member Since: Nov 2014
Location: Denver
Posts: 567
Quote:
Originally Posted by m022576 View Post
Is it OK for a 45 year old man to date a 20-year-old woman?

Why or why not?

I would prefer a professional therapist's thoughts, but I also welcome input from anyone.
OK, I admit that I voted "no" and am (somewhat surprisingly) in the minority here. I guess a "yes" would be specific to the fact that it is legal. I also had a few personal experiences from an earlier time that give me this perspective. When I was in my mid 30's, I dated a woman 13 years my junior. I was focused on getting my life together, completing my education and starting a new career. She was still trying to figure her life out, dealing with conflicts with her parents (separation-individuation issues), exploring her sexuality and uncertain about whether or not she even wanted to be in a LTR. It was exciting at first, but ultimately unsatisfying and the age difference played a major role in the break up. A few years late, pushing 40, I did the same thing again (different woman this time) and had similar, painful results, as we still had to interact with each other for periods of time due to her being in the same academic program as me and her wanting to date other men in the program. These are isolated incidents, but the issues that kept the relationships from working out long term were similar and age related.
Thanks for this!
silentangel1969