Age disparity in sexual relationships
Age disparity in sexual relationships refers to sexual relations between people with a significant difference in age. Whether these relationships are accepted and the question of what counts as a significant difference in age has varied over time; and varies over cultures, different legal systems, and different ethical systems. It often depends on differing attitudes towards perceived social and economic differences between age groups and how consent is viewed, and sometimes whether or not the relationship is part of a spiritual or legal marriage.
"Half-your-age-plus-seven" rule
An often-asserted rule of thumb to determine whether an age difference is socially acceptable holds that a person should never date someone whose age is less than half their own plus seven years. For example, under this rule, a 28-year-old would date no one younger than 21 (half of 28, plus 7) and a 50-year-old would date no one younger than 32 (half of 50, plus 7).
Although the origin of the rule is unclear, it is sometimes said to have French origin. The half-your-age-plus seven rule appears in John Fox, Jr.'s The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come in 1903, in American newspapers in 1931 attributed to Maurice Chevalier, and in "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" attributed to Elijah Muhammad.
In earlier sources, the rule sometimes had a different interpretation than in contemporary culture. Not only was it gender-specific, but it was also presented as a formula to calculate the ideal age of the woman at the beginning of a relationship, instead of a lower limit. Frederick Locker-Lampson's Patchwork from 1879 states the opinion "A wife should be half the age of her husband with seven years added." Max O'Rell's Her Royal Highness Woman from 1901 gives the rule in the format "A man should marry a woman half his age, plus seven." A similar interpretation is also present in the 1951 play The Moon Is Blue by F. Hugh Herbert: "Haven't you ever heard that the girl is supposed to be half the man's age, plus seven?"
A study in 2000 found that the rule was fairly accurate at predicting the minimum age of a woman that a man would marry or date. However, the rule was not found to be predictive of the minimum age of a man that a woman would marry or date, nor (by reversing the formula) of the maximum age that either sex would marry or date.[
See also
- Age of consent
- Campsite rule
- Chronophilia (Ephebophilia, Gerontophilia, Hebephilia, Pedophilia, Teleiophilia)
- Enjo kosai
- List of films featuring May–December romances
- Marriageable age
- Trophy wife
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Age_disparity_in_sexual_relationships ]
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