Why Some Women Prefer Older Men
After I published my now-infamous sexual market value graph in an essay titled Final Exam—Navigating the Sexual Marketplace, several commenters on my blog, The Rational Male, quoted this stanza
Therefore, it is fitting for the women to be married at about the age of eighteen and the men at thirty-seven or a little before—for that will give long enough for the union to take place with their bodily vigor at its prime and for it to arrive with a convenient coincidence of dates at the time when procreation ceases. — Aristotle, Politics, Book 7, section 1335a
This (admittedly rough) bell curve infographic, which has been one of the most virally reposted and harshly criticized explanations of the modern sexual marketplace, sparked a heated debate in the Manosphere and the mainstream.
For twelve years, I was both lauded and lambasted for making a couple of simple pink and blue bell curves to express my instinctual grasp of the mismatch between women’s and men’s sexual market value peak years in the average person’s lifetime.
That is 23 for women and 37 for men.
Mind you, I had no prior knowledge of Aristotle’s quote before writing the essay and creating the graphic. Critics hate it because it exposes the rapidly perishable nature of women’s sexual agency (i.e., Power) while simultaneously implying I thought older men were more sexually desirable than younger men.
Haters brigaded my comments, “Where’s your proof?! Sources, studies, hello?!!”
You see, I’d been unwittingly bold enough to declare in 2012 what Aristotle thought obvious in 350 B.C.
Since I published this graphic in 2012, sources have slowly confirmed over the years what my instincts led me to then. In 2014, the now-ubiquitous data sets collected by Match.com and OkayCupid in the book Dataclysm were published.
This was my first real inclination my anecdotal graph was correct. The average age at which men of all age cohorts found women most attractive was 23. It’s not what Aristotle would’ve predicted, but it’s close enough.
For women, the age at which they found men the most attractive trended upwards of 2-5 years older than a woman’s present age. Women aged 25 reported they found men aged 28-29 most attractive.
At 30, women found men of 33-35 most attractive.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. See it here substack.com
Header image: LovePanky
Please Donate Below To Support Our Ongoing Work To Defend The Scientific Method
PRINCIPIA SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL, legally registered in the UK as a company 
incorporated for charitable purposes. Head Office: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX.
Trackback from your site.
Howdy
| #
“Haters brigaded my comments”
Haters, as opposed to critics…
“Critics hate it because it exposes the rapidly perishable nature of women’s sexual agency (i.e., Power)”
What a crude way of putting things you have. Personally, it’s nonsense. Women don’t have a sell by, date.
I don’t suppose there’s any chance that some women still see older men as a father they never had? A wiser, more dependable partner? That sexual attraction isn’t everything?
I find the whole thing BS, regardless of Aristotle (why the pre-ocuppation in such matters with people of the past), or the graph. Reality is different for every one of us.
Reply
Barry from Victoria
| #
Women use sex to get power, men use power to get sex. An older man has had more time to establish his position in society than a younger man. In his late 20’s and early 30’s a man is at his peak. For a young woman in a rational world that should be most attractive for the sake of her prospective family.
That’s an interesting observation from Aristotle, “about the time procreation ceases.”
Reply