When is a cat not a cat?  When it’s a cougar, of course.

Thirty years ago a cougar was simply a mountain lion.  A sleek, sophisticated, solitary cat usually found stalking the mountains of the Americas, searching for its next tasty morsel and ambushing and pouncing on it, before finally devouring it inch by delicious inch.

In the 21st century cougars can still be found stalking their prey.  But now the venue is usually a bar or club, the cougar is a 40 something year old woman and the prey a younger man. 

The prey in these instances however is more than willing, ready and eager to be stalked and devoured.
The high priestess of the mountain lions – the cougar – has come down from the wild to become the high priestess of the womankind.  Cougars are commonly women in their 40s, 50s and beyond who are confident and sexy.

They generally know what they want and how to get it.  And love it or loathe it, the term cougar it seems is here to stay.

Opinion is divided on how the term came about, but one explanation is that the term came from the Vancouver Cunucks hockey team who coined the term to describe the older women who came to their games.    That might explain why one of the scenes in the new ABC comedy Cougar Town is at a ball game.

It’s never been more acceptable for older women to date younger men.  In a survey conducted by AARP The Magazine, a magazine targeted at the over 50s, in 2003, 34 percent of women over the age of 40 were dating men who were at least 10 years their junior.

And there are many famous examples of this new kind of couple.  Demi  Moore, the queen of the cougars, married Ashton Kutcher in 2005, a man 15 years her junior .

Susan Sarrandon and Tim Robbins , who is 12 years younger,  have been together since 1988.   Cher has dated younger men for years and Madonna is currently busy worshipping Jesus, a man 29 years younger than she is.  She is, by the way 51,  he’s 22.  Her former husband Guy Ritchie was a mere 10 years younger than her.
These couples have really paved the way for older women and younger men to get together and have given the cougar dating scene an air of respectability and acceptability.

So if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for us, right?   Absolutely, says Oliver Jameson, founder of the popular website cougared.com.  Jameson started Cougared.com in 2007 after reading about the growing trend of older women openly dating younger men.

“I had always thought it was unfair that men in their 40s, 50s and older could date women 20 years younger and no one batted an eyelid, yet when a mature woman dated a much younger guy, eyebrows were raised.

“The idea of cougared.com is to help older women meet younger men online.  It is a much easier way of meeting and the fact that everyone on the site is not only accepting of an age gap relationship, but is positively seeking one, makes it the perfect environment for younger men and older women to connect.

“The site now has over 25,000 members and the best part is that it is completely free with absolutely no hidden charges. In fact it is the only completely free cougar dating site with any significant membership base.”
The popularity of cougar dating shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone.   It’s a well known fact that sexually men peak early and women peak in midlife.

In Cougar Town Jules Cobb describes single men her age as being either broken or gay and seeking younger girls.   A daunting prospect.  No wonder older women are turning to younger men.   And there’s no shortage of younger men looking to meet older women and vice versa.

Many books and websites have sprung up about the cougar dating scene and while they offer valuable advice and excellent tips, nothing makes anything become more acceptable, popular and mainstream than television.

Cougar Town  can only enhance and help older women and younger men get together,  whether it be for a lasting relationship or just a bit of casual fun.  So join in and have fun.  What have you got to lose?