This Is the Ideal Dating Age for Women

A look into the psyche of dating males proves that they are about as predictable as you thought. The ideal dating age for women is in their twenties, according to a new study of 12,000 Finns by Finland's Åbo Akademi University. While women prefer to date men who are their same age or older, men of all ages aim to date women who are the target audience for Girls.

If this study sounds familiar, that’s because it's the second one this month that reflects these dating preferences. OkCupid co-founder Christian Rudder’s new book Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One’s Looking), included a study of OkCupid readers that says that men are most attracted to 20-year-olds, regardless of the age of the men themselves.

But this information shouldn’t have you running to the closest CVS to purchase every age-defying serum you can get your hands on. Both studies are talking about ideal partners. Ideally I would love to spend a romantic evening with Cam Gigandet or Chris Hemsworth, but realistically I will probably end up with a Tinder-hacker. Is it so surprising that men would ideally like to have a 20-something as a sexual partner? Heck no. In this ideal world all women should demand that her man have a six-pack and face like David Beckham. The reason that women actually look for men their own age is likely because they are looking for someone with resources and a real partner, not just someone who is young and attractive.

After all, most men don’t end up with a twentysomething-year-old squeeze. The Nordic study also purports that women "control the market" when it comes to dating, as men are more unlikely than women to actually have sex with their ideal partner. This seems to make sense on a purely logistical level… there are only so many 20-year-old women to go around. But I would hardly say that this means that women are in "control" of the market. If most men would prefer to be with someone else, how does this mean that women are in charge? In this scenario, it seems as if women aren’t so much doing the picking as they are being settled on. When is the last time you saw a TV show in which a 40-year-old woman laments how many great dating options she has?

I say let the men continue wanting to sleep with younger women and carry on with your life. The smart ones will figure out age-appropriate dating eventually.

Image: 20th Century Fox