Boys and Men, Girls and Women

Working in an academic environment, I am frequently helping young men (and women) with papers and assignments.  There have been a handful of uncomfortable conversations with boys that I felt, well, should've never stepped over the line of tutor/student.  I had to take them aside and set them straight. It ended there. I may have even suggested a classmate who may better suit their fancy. I know. I know, so weird, but true.  My other half has even gone so far to say it's not a good place for me to be, since it may open me up to plenty of opportunities to cheat on him.

Oh if he only knew--there is no need to worry about the boys.  Boys are like puppies.  They are cute and silly.  They have yet to grow into fully understanding the world.  They are impressionable.  Those qualities could be quite attractive to some women.  Not me.  I can admire their cuteness, their vulnerability, their lack of worldliness, but there is a difference between admiring it and desiring it.  I wouldn't want to teach them anything.  Really, I don't want them looking at me and seeing my age as I feel its slow progression, the deterioration that seems to happen daily.  Sure, I workout, I eat right, I do yoga --- but I know I don't look like I'm in my twenties anymore.  Most of these boys are still in their teens.  They still eat whatever they want and then some. Their eyes are bright, their bodies strong and smooth.  Not for me.  Not for me.

Of course, it is the way of the world that it's opposite for men.  They want someone to keep them young.  They want to guide, to show and tell, to explore the world through fresh eyes and perspective.  They want to regain their youth.  There is nothing wrong with this.  Obviously biology has crafted us in such a way to keep us wanting to procreate with the best possible option--the younger, the more fertile, the healthier one.  But more often, perhaps it is this:

The reasons older men chase younger women have less to do with sex and everything to do with a profound desire to reassure ourselves that we've still got "it." "It" isn't just physical attractiveness; "it" is the whole masculine package of youth, vitality, and, above all else,possibility. It's not that women our own age are less attractive, it's that they lack the culturally-based power to reassure our fragile, aging egos that we are still hot and hip and filled with potential. Inspiring desire in women young enough to be our daughters becomes the most potent of all anti-aging remedies, particularly when we can show off our much younger dates to our peers. The famous little red sports car reveals only the size of our bank account; attracting a girl barely out of her teens (or, if we're in our fifties, barely out of her twenties) validates the enduring power of our youthful appeal - source

I can't judge what women or men find attractive.  It may be little people or farm animals or big hairy fat women.  It's all a personal preference.  For me, it is certainly not the boys.