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Mick Jagger is 74, and his current girlfriend is 22. Doubtlessly most want to hurl when they hear this. I can’t imagine introducing my parents to a partner who is older than they are. Jagger’s girlfriend is younger than his older kids; they must be embarrassed as hell.
But why is this so weird? Part of me wants to go ‘well, they’re not hurting anyone, they’re happy, it’s their business’. That’s the attitude I’ve tried to take – or at least explore – with many of my topics, such as incest, promiscuity, divorce; people’s non-threatening lifestyle choices. But something like this I place in the ‘absurd’ category, just as I view non-existent binary genders. Remember, this is all just my opinion; I’m not trying to force anyone to think the way I do, and that’s pointless anyway because I don’t have or want that kind of power over anyone.
Come on. We all know why she’s dating him. He’s one of the most famous rock stars that’s ever lived – she wasn’t born when he was anywhere near his prime. I’m not a major Stones fan; Satisfaction is a tune but I prefer The Beatles. Just thinking about someone that old having sex is like wtftdvuihi. I mean, why. How?? Well, Viagra is a great invention. She’s pretty hot – her name is Noor Alfallah, and she’s a film producer who can probably snap up any hot piece of ass she wants. Yet she disregards all fellas in her (and my) age range, and goes for a mature, sophisticated gentleman. She skipped the Fabulous Forties and went straight to the…erm…Sexy Seventies?
But all laughs aside, let’s look at a bit of Science behind this. Good ol’ friend, Science. Trump could learn a bit of it with regards to climate change. Biologically, men are more attracted to younger women for reproductive purposes. Women start approaching Menopause around 40 (although these days with technology a woman in her 50s can have a kid), so if a man wants to have a kid with her, he’s gonna wanna snap her up at least a decade beforehand. Women are attracted to older men because they’re associated with maturity, stability and strong genes. Women also mature faster than men, as we know.
However, for most of the time humans have been here, we haven’t lived all that long. It’s only in recent centuries with advances in modern Science that medicine has enabled us to live much longer. Back in the day, most humans would have been dead around their 30s. As humans have been living longer, our notions of age have changed. There are cultures where as soon as a girl starts menstruating – typically aged 10-16 – she is pushed into childbearing. Nowadays in modern Britain, the idea of pushing a 14 year old girl into having a kid and getting married is – well illegal, but also unthinkable. We associate kids at that age with being too immature to raise children and be in a long-term partnership.
There’s so much more to life now than just pro-creating. Cultural norms say that someone in their 30s should settle down, get married and have kids, whilst someone in their 20s will be working, travelling, finding themselves and enjoying life. A 20 year old girl may love her mature 30 year old boyfriend, but could find herself in a situation where he wants to get married and start family planning, and she is, like, soooo not ready for that.
It may make biological sense for 71 year old Trump to be married to his fine 47 year old wife. While nowhere near as gross as Mick Jagger dating a practical teenager, it still makes many of us scratch our heads and think huh? Many young people may consider the premise of dating someone ten years older than them totally weird. I remember in my mid-teens, the unspoken rule was ‘two years is acceptable.’ Nowadays older women and younger men (cough, Madonna) is becoming more prevalent as well.
It’s all very interesting. I think our society has a major preoccupation with age. The cosmetic industry is obsessed with selling people – mainly women – products that will make them look younger. FORTY IS THE NEW TWENTY! THIRTY IS THE NEW TEN! TWENTY IS THE NEW…(Wow, that means I really have just been born). Young people want to look older; older people want to look younger. Everyone is desperate to stay young forever like it’s some great thing. Personally I think being young is sort of overrated; older people are wise, know who they are and what they want, stable and satisfied and less bothered by the stuff that bugged them as kids. Young people are just moany idiots that complain about everything online and think the world revolves around them (wow, I really have described myself.)
Do age gaps matter? Why are things described as ‘age-appropriate’? Why must someone of a certain age behave in a certain way? And does it even matter that Noor Alfallah has a granddad fetish?
Links:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5029429/Mick-Jagger-74-steps-new-love-22.html
http://www.thezarinamachablog.co.uk/2017/09/is-marriage-weird-idea.html
