Survey Results - First Question

[michaelb]

That's the $64.00 question, braziliangirl. We have some well respected and apparently happy/successful member couples here with an age difference that I consider too large (for me to handle)....but who am I to tell them "no" or not wish them the best?

A young woman/old man marriage (used to be referred to as a "May-December" relationship,  although you don't hear that expression much any more) will draw a lot of negative comments along the lines of "She's only after his money and/or fame" (Come to think of it, didn't Hugh Heffner just get engaged to some 20 something bimbo?). A young foreign woman will get even more such comments, often including the insulting terms "visa whore" or "green card shark". While I don't want a woman too much younger than myself (I'm 60, my wife is 53, we've been married 7 years), I don't have the right to tell other people what they can or can't do, as long as they're both of legal age......but be aware that there are people who will make it their business to get in other people's business in an insulting manner.....just so that you know.  10 years difference? Usually no problem (unless the younger of the pair is really young, like 18 or 20)....15 years difference? Well 60 and 45, OK, 35 and 20 will draw the negative comments. Mind you now, I'm not judging, I'm just the messenger telling you what to expect, since you asked.

[braziliangirl]

Thanks michealb. My father is 16 years older than my mother and I can see how the age difference affected their relationship in some ways. I guess Brazil is different from Colombia on that matter, because it took a long time for his family to get over the fact and be OK with my mother. Maybe because she was 20 when they got married.

I am 30, so I guess an age difference up to 10 years wouldn't be too much of a problem.

[utopiacowboy]

In spite of what you read on this board, if you actually go to Colombia, you will find that most relationships involve people of roughly the same age. Of course two of my brothers-in-law regularly bed women 20 years their junior but they're not marrying them - they're just sex toys. My wife's first husband was actually 6 years YOUNGER than her.

[michaelb]

No, with your age of 30, I don't think people will have problems seeing you with a 40 year old man. Some people still might have the "but she's a foreigner" prejudice (and what can you do about their ignorance and stupidity, except ignore them?). But in my opinion you won't be in danger from what we refer to as the "age police". 

[dennislevy]

Something very interesting happens with the expectations  of Colombian women or at least I think so.....I spend a lot of time reading profiles on social pages like cupido...
 
and a Colombian woman who is 30 is usally looking at 30 to 40......a woman who is 35, looking at 35 to 45, but once they hit 40...they add 5 yearrs to their range and now its 40 to 55.
 
I turned 58 yesterday....and I have no hesitation talking to women between 40 and 45...
 
MY percption and (Mrs UC is excluded from this) that when a Colombiab woman expresses a desire to have relationship with a signifcantly younger man...its because she wants to control what happens.....and some of that is about getting her itch scratched...usually without any real committments.
 
Again, IMHO. 

[Researcher]

What would be a too great age difference? 10 years? 15 years?

What is usually accepted there in the US?

      Hey BG, there is a 10 year difference between my wife and I.She looks even younger than she is but I don't.Hasn't been an issue. I think it depends on the couple. If the older one of the couple acts young I don't think anyone notices the age difference. I needed to marry someone younger than myself to compensate for my immaturity!!! hehehe!

             Researcher

[AndyLee]

It has more to do with how you look together than it does the numerical age I think. If I'm a young 63 (yep TODAY is my birthday) and dating a woman who is 30 years younger than me in Colombia it is not generally a problem. In the US I have dated women 15 years younger than me and still not a problem.
My best gringo friend is 63 and married to a gringa 18 years younger and it is definitely not a problem, at least in the circle of friends that we hang with, and when you get right down to it, who are you trying to win approval from anyway? If your friends can't handle the big age difference then they ain't really your friends, or you're too paranoid about what people think about you.
We can't use historical perspective anymore, it changes so fast nowadays its almost useless. Remember when it was science fiction for Star Trek people to have little walkie talkies on their chest so they could communicate anywhere in the world? Well, guess what, it's called a cell phone, sort of not science fiction anymore.

[thekfc]

If I'm a young 63 (yep TODAY is my birthday)

Happy Birthday  AL.

[Jeff S]

Happy Birthday Andy!


Yeah - remember Dick Tracy's Two-Way wrist radio? After the transistor radio came out in the early 60s, it morphed into a 2 way wrist TV. Visions of the future!


Here's a good one from when you were 6 years old:

[AndyLee]

If I'm reading that caption correctly they were predicting this computer model for 2004. Isn't 2004 the year the iPhone first came out? It looks like we're a little ahead of schedule in the computer field, yes?

[thekfc]

It looks like that they were a couple of decades off.   

Actually 2004 was the "gaming wars" - both the PS3 & the Xbox 360 were in the process of being release (2005). The iPhone was released 3 years later  in 2007.

[Jeff S]

More than a couple. In 1983 the IBM PC came out and in 1974 the PARC desktop computer was around. By 1964 smaller and more powerful computers were available. What they guessed would take 50 years took less than 10.


Digital's PDP1 of 1960:

[robert angel]

Re:
What percentage of people who marry a partner from a foreign country, end in divorce?       
 
Getting an answer on that from here is basing the answer on of course, member's opinions. Having participated in a couple US Census Surveys, I can't say that if THEY tried to get an answer, that they could be any more accurate--the last census in particular was a total botch job--they couldn't even count the right amount of employees they had hired or how much in supplies needed for the job.
 
Trying to get any where near a factual answer to that question is as easy as trying to nail a slab of jello to a wall.
 
All the same, we can get what might be called a 'ball park guess' and taken with a grain of salt, that might be interesting.

[robert angel]

Oh yea--before I forget--Happy Birthday, AndyLee!!!
You're the youngest 63 y/o guy here!

[Ray]

Thanks michealb. My father is 16 years older than my mother and I can see how the age difference affected their relationship in some ways. I guess Brazil is different from Colombia on that matter, because it took a long time for his family to get over the fact and be OK with my mother. Maybe because she was 20 when they got married.

I am 30, so I guess an age difference up to 10 years wouldn't be too much of a problem.

Actually, you should be able to handle up to a 16-year difference.
 
 (30-7) x 2 = 46
 
 
I'm 18 years older than my wife... 
 
 
Ray
 
 
 
 

[ignorante]

LOL!     Just because you have a math formula does not mean she is attracted to guys outside their thirties, Ray. 

[Ray]

LOL!     Just because you have a math formula does not mean she is attracted to guys outside their thirties, Ray.

But isn't a guy of forty outside his thirties??
 
Go back and read her post, then see if you can add 30 + 10... LOL!
 
 
 
 

[ignorante]

Yeah, but you are pushing her to exceed her outermost limit by 60%, and 40 is not her desired target age, it is her outside edge of "acceptable" . . .
 
We all still think we are hot after forty, but women 10-15 years younger do not always think so . . .   LOL!

[ignorante]

up to 10 years wouldn't be too much of a problem.

  "Wouldn't be too much of a problem" is not exactly a ringing endorsement!   

[Ray]

 
Well then I apologize. I didn't realize that you were the official spokesperson for BG...