Interesting points. I believe the reason that promiscuous women tend to be condemned as tramps, while their male counterparts are extolled as virile stems from issues surrounding heredity, because until fairly recently, there was no sure way of determining paternity......Originally posted by HighLordDave:
<STRONG>Back to our friend fable's original question, I think it's curious how we view the sexual activity of the different sexes.
For example a women who is promiscuous or has a lot of sexual partners is considered a whore or a tramp. Yet a man with the same sexual behaviour is considered virile or a stud. Why is it that we view one group favourably and another group unfavourably for the same behaviour?
Also, why is it that we often see a younger woman coupled with an older man, but rarely the other way around? For example, Anna Nicole Smith was something like 26 when she married Howard Marshall, who I believe was 89. Bill Wyman's (of the Rolling Stones) wife was something like 18 when they got married and he's older than dirt. If women engaged in that same behaviour, we would consider them deviant, while we say, "Way to go, Bill!" or "I guess Howard just re-builds them the way he wants 'em".
Grey hair on women makes them look "old" while men become "distinguished". I think it odd that we are so willing (almost eager) to put older women out to pasture and spinsterdom while allowing men far more latitude in terms of their sexuality.</STRONG>
This may also be why matrilineal cultures (those that trace descent through the mother) are often less likely to frown on female infidelity.
My own feeling regarding the question of age difference is that it again relates to the double standard. Women are often expected to be less experienced (both sexually and otherwise) than their partners, so for a woman to be older upsets that balance.
Perhaps even more importantly, women, in general, can only reproduce until sometime in their forties, while men can sire offspring until they are in their seventies. I suspect that this reality also links to the question of grey hair........
[ 11-26-2001: Message edited by: dragon wench ]
