Cougar madness.

Beautiful Readers,

Last post was a big moan-fest about trivial details in my life getting me down, and today I share with you my beef of the week. This blog has recently become the place for whining. Regrets. But it’s too late now. I promise I’ll knock it off soon. Next week maybe.

Cougars. Has anyone heard this term? Has anyone had the pleasure of not hearing it? Here is the definition of Cougar in the Urban Dictionary (an awesome source of info, by the way, if you want to know what people hipper (or younger) than you are talking about around you) http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cougar. Essentially, if you don’t feel like following the link, a cougar,as I understand it, is a woman (not a man, mind you) in their 30s and 40s (screw the 50s–that would be waaaaaaay to old to even joke about) who, generally, looks distressingly hot, and dare I say, still wants to get laid. The horror of it all. And sometimes this threatening individual wants to sleep with a man who is younger than they are. A babe in the woods. Someone with all their hair.

Now imagine some wiley 40 something woman, wearing lipstick even maybe, just for the purposes of attracting a man the tender age of 30. Someone should clearly call the man’s parents and tell them that he is in danger. Actually no, someone should give every single person who thinks this is odd or even noteworthy a great big wedgie and tell them to get a life.

No doubt I should be less bitter. Nonsense. Every single woman who is approaching these ages or is among these ages or past these ages should be morebitter. Every man who actually respects any of these women should be outraged by this nonsense as well. Since when is mocking a group of any particular age or type, or publicly judging any kind of a relationship acceptable among smart people? Stuff’s getting better right? I’m seeing tv now that actually portrays women older than me, and they have decent lines, and strong opinions. Thank God. It was bound to happen eventually. I have happily presumed that this was the reflection of increased maturity within the tv industry, and likely more say on the part of female producers.

But then, we have this sh*t. What is this? Why is this clear contempt (and willing lack of self-respect on the part of the women who find this kind of obviously insulting pigeon-holing kind of cute) becoming mainstream? Talk to me people, because I really do not understand it, and I want to. How did the cougar character which is obviously a testimony to nothing more than good old fashioned fear of female sexuality get to be so damn popular? Yikes.

That’s it on this subject for me today. Seriously, I am so disappointed and surprised and hurt frankly, that the rest is all just swearing and muttering.  And just so you know, in case you were wondering, while the age of the cougar is the same as mine (41 years), and I do indeed like to have sex from  time to time, and would also feel free to love whomever I choose, I do not feel that I am in any danger of being called this or mistaken for this profile. I have a certain book-ish waspy look that makes me almost immune to this kind of teasing, and I seem to have an ongoing romantic life that prevents having to go out looking for sex. But what if it were different? How many women in that sometimes vulnerable stage of life, perhaps after years of unhappy marriage, and looking for a partner again, must now bear the additional burden of thinking “am I a cougar?” “Do I look like a cougar?” “Is this a cougar dress?” What bullshit. As if just having to pay for sixteen dollar drinks at a bar wasn’t enough annoyance.

I would have been rightfully upset about this several decades ago. Why? Because I love people. And I do not like to see them maligned when they have done nothing wrong.

Thanks for reading,

Alix Florio        President; Beautiful Fitness www.beautifulfitness.com