Inter-Office Poll: The Glass Ceiling Of Guy’s Age

Lemondrop  recently did a very scientific study on age and dating to produce the “The 29-year-old rule”: Basically, after you hit 30, you can’t hook up with anyone under 29, lest you be branded a cougar (or a cheetah?), or even worse, find out that most guys in their 20s that you thought were so cool are actually immature losers.

Which may seem like a double-standard: After all, don’t guys get to date well below their age range, get trophy wives, and be Hugh Hefners and Roger Sterlings all around? A quick office poll of our own says no: While there may be women out there who can bury their daddy issues (or not) and date much older men, the majority of us find the idea creepy…up until a certain age, that is. Let’s call it “The 25-year-old rule”: Until you’re at least three years out of college, you shouldn’t be dating guys above a 10 year age range. We all knew that sophomore with her townie boyfriend that was 35 and always gave you the skeeves, right? Yeah, that still applies (for the most part, there are always exceptions!) after school to: If he’s old enough to have a 401k and possibly a secret family that he’s hiding from you, than that’s too old.

Of course, that changes as you get older: Once you hit 25, feel free to date guys in their mid-30s or 40s, because you’ve hopefully both peaked at your maturity level and have more things in common than a 19-year-old and a guy that’s old enough to be her dad’s tennis buddy. Is this a blanket generalization, not taking into account the intricacies of modern relationships? Sure. But lets put it this way: If you’re dating a guy because he’s old enough to buy you beer (and a summer house in the Hamptons), you might want to start figuring out what exactly the long-term potential is.