by Jessica Leshnoff

*Editor’s notice: labels of some of the interviewees have now been changed for confidentiality.

Annette Wheeler* didn’t recall the exact minute she initial heard the definition of “cougar,” but she did recall dashing to the woman desktop to appear it up. To her shock and bemusement, there was clearly a new phrase to explain exactly what she had been carrying out a lot of her existence — internet dating more youthful men.

For a number of ladies, younger men — many https://datingperfect.net/dating-sites/hepcmatch-reviews-comparison/ of them fifteen years or higher their juniors — were an all-natural healthy.

Wheeler, a fiery girl with red hair whom lives outside Baltimore, leaned back the lady seat and sighed. “i enjoy young boys,” the 60-year-old purred. “we preferred more youthful men even if I found myself in senior school — like a-year or two young. I was a cougar before there had been cougars.”

Without a doubt, Wheeler’s pre-marriage and post-divorce internet dating history reads like a passionate screenplay. She indexed a sequence of teenagers with whom she had various relationships, from time to time punching numbers into a calculator to find out years distinctions she got never ever regarded to start with. She never assessed the woman destination to younger guys (or her interest to their), but with “cougar” tremendously common phase familiar with describe older female dating much more youthful guys, her longtime inclination are instantly during the spotlight.

For Wheeler also ladies like the lady, young guys — many 15 years or maybe more her juniors — become an all-natural healthy. Boomer women are lookin more youthful and feeling better than ever. Widowed, split up, or separated, an increasing number seek teenagers for dating and companionship. Continue reading →