But a man putting off starting a family indefinitely is just as foolish as a woman doing so, assuming they want a family. People assume any man over 40 is capable of siring children with a much younger woman, and maybe he can. There are age issues that affect men's virility, but OK. The problem is, he has to attract a…

I'm not making a biological argument at all. I'm saying that:

It's sad that these guys don't realize that the contrast makes them look even older.

But what if that 28 year old doesn't want kids until she is 38? Hmmmm....

No, but it's stupid for them to think that super young women want to be bothered with them, and kind of hypocritical.

Right, women who are 35 and 40 usually can have kids. The only women I know who had fertility problems that young were also infertile in their twenties. And I find it fucking gross that some guy who is 15 years older than I am might think I'm "too old" to have kids with. No. He's too old.

analyzing the stated preferences of men who populate free, online dating websites is not necessarily a good way to judge the partnering behavior of 'men' in general, because these men are [mostly] NOT PARTNERED, which is presumably why they're looking to date online. since men are willing 'buyers' and will basically…

It also reflects the privilege men hold when it comes to life choices and family. Many men seem to believe that the option of kids, family and "settling down" will be available to them whenever they're done "having fun." My experience from my 20s was that most of my female peers, whether they were ready to get…

Yep, I've heard this too. I really think the way we ignore this is a holdover from older beliefs that anything going wrong with conceiving is the woman's fault.

Oh I'm not saying they *shouldn't*, but I'm just saying that people *generally* just don't realize that they want kids at 50.

Maybe he NEVER had it in the first place. And its a fallacy to assume that fertility problems are exclusively a woman's problem. And how does biology explain away the fact that many gay men in their 40s or 50s refuse to date their own age group and only want men in their 20s. Not many of those relationships end in…

This is a fantastic article. For these older men, younger women are social prizes, just like sports cars.

Okay, just what percentage of the men are really looking for a relationship that could lead to fatherhood? And of the ones that say they are, how many of them have been examined by a doctor to determine their own fertility? In my limited experience- men who use that line about wanting to go for a younger women due…

I just think having a daughter the same, or similar age, would change your perspective on attraction- and I'm not talking just physically. I mean, wouldn't you see the person as mature/immature as your own kids? In terms of having a longterm relationship with them.

Fertility may be a part of the equation, but not a big one. I was on Match.com in my early 30s and was positively hounded by men in their 50s and 60s who had no interest in having kids but had "life experience" that they were just dying to share with an adventurous young woman who wasn't all hung up on age. You…

Right? Except everyone knows only wimminz are wanting the babies and only trick men into impregnating them or whatever. Oh wait, wha? Klondike—look, if you're going to peddle bullshit sexist evo psych whatever nonsense, at least keep it consistent.

The likelyhood of a dude who wants a child at 50, I think, is pretty slim.

I think that's a big factor in why never-married, childless men in their early 40s might prefer to date women in their late 20s or early 30s rather than women exactly their own age. I don't think it explains why some of those same men pursue women who are even younger, or why there are many men in their 40s and 50s…

Not really...a woman over 35 and especially over 40 is more likely to either have all the kids she wants already or have decided not to have kids definitively. And she just has fewer years of fertility ahead than a man of the same age.

Inspiring desire in women young enough to be our daughters becomes the most potent of all anti-aging remedies....