BOSTON GLOBE -- Mar 25 -- Despite all the talk of cougar culture, men still want to date younger women. Men still seek younger women, especially as those men get older themselves. "It's the general rule," said Mark Brooks, an online dating industry consultant who runs Online Personals Watch. "With men dating women, it tends to be up to six years younger but it will only be up to two years older. Guys tend to have unrealistic expectations," said Brooks, who bragged that he is one of the mythical Ashton Kutcher-types (he recently dated someone nine years older than him). "Most men are too busy looking at magazines and not busy enough looking in the mirror." Adele Testani, founder of Hurrydate said "we have actually tried to capitalize on the cougar trend and it didn't really work for us. People really want that more traditional arrangement." Kate Bilenki, a spokeswoman for Plentyoffish.com, has not seen a male profile call for an older woman. "For every 55-year old male, there are three 55-year-old women", she adds. FULL ARTICLE @ BOSTON GLOBE
Mark Brooks: Photoshopped pictures of skinny models in magazines are destroying our society. How can singles photos on dating sites compare to these unrealistic, unnatural photos? A hundred years ago it was the women of girth and curves that were lauded after. 'Women of the street' were skinny and most available to men and became personifications of sexual desire over the years. Sex sells. Sex became connected with skinny, and now we have a generation of kids trying to reach unattainable and unnatural levels of skinny. I'd love a six pack. But why? I've been brainwashed into thinking its sexy. Just as women have been brainwashed into thinking super skinny is THE look. Its not good for the dating industry ultimately. Singles should feel more comfortable posting their photos on dating sites. Your comments please.