The Cougar Phenomenon: A Look at Middle-aged Women Who Choose Younger Men as Their Sex Partners

• In Event: 347 - Regular Session. Sociology of Sexuality: Mature Women's Sexualities

Abstract

In recent years there seems to have been an increasing number of images of and discussions about middle-aged women engaging in romantic or sexual relationships with younger men. ‘Cougars’ are generally depicted as white, wealthy, educated and unattached women who are ‘just looking for fun’. In this paper, I use the National Survey of Family Growth 2002 to consider the prevalence of the ‘cougar’ phenomenon among middle-aged women and to explore who they are in terms of income, race, marital status and educational attainment. Results indicate that 13.22% of sexually active women aged 35-44 years have slept with a man who is at least five years younger. Contrary to common assumptions, lower income women are more likely than wealthier women to have sex with younger men. Furthermore, women who identify racially as neither Black nor White are more likely than White women to have younger male sex partners. Previously married women as well as ever-single women are more likely than married/cohabiting women to engage in age-hypogamous sexual relationships; however, a large portion of older woman/younger man sexual relationships actually involve married/cohabiting women. Lastly, a woman’s level of education does not play a significant role in age-hypogamous relationships.

Author

• Milaine Alarie, McGill University