Eye Candy

This is Juan, one of the doormen in my building. He's 26 years old, Cuban and very flirtatious. He's the one who can always be counted on to elicit a naughty whistle when an old broad like me gets tarted up to go out for the evening. Bless him--he earns his fat holiday tip.

It's curious. I think as we women get older, we're less daunted by expressing our blatant appreciation of younger men. How wonderful that younger men also seem to be more appreciative of older women. My mother certainly exploited this trend, dating a 35 year old man when she was in her late 60s. She regaled me with stories of their sexual antics and how he introduced her to the merits of pot smoking. I loved my mother but she was famous for her inappropriate overshares.

We recently hired a new sales manager who happens to be a man in his late 20s. He comes to the position with a solid sales pedigree and the business polish necessary to succeed in his job. The added bonus: he's particularly well built and darkly good looking. Most of the sales staff are women in my age group and I've watched their reaction to their new colleague with amusement. They become coquettish and flirtatious around him like teenage girls at a high school dance. Oddly, the one person seemingly oblivious is the man himself. He's utterly unaffected and seemingly unaware of the overt fawning shown him. Even our receptionist, a 60 something gal with a whiskey barreled voice, asked, "Who's THIS?" when I brought him into the office today. Fascinating.

There's a new reality show that will be on TV this summer that pits 20 year old women against 40 year old women for the affections of a famous young tennis player. While an interesting premise I personally think the 40 year olds have the clear advantage. They have more confidence, are financially independent, don't need a man to validate their personal value, don't give a rat's ass if the person is a celebrity, are probably more dominant and fearless in bed, are intellectually more stimulating and can teach that young man a thing or two. Lest we suggest Oedipus was right, younger men seem to like the domination an older woman represents.

I was on a flight a few months ago and sat next to a man who identified himself in his early 30s. We chatted easily and flirtatiously for the duration of the flight. Just prior to landing, he asked me if I had ever had ever had sex in an airplane bathroom. Now, this is the way you separate the girls from the women--A woman responds exactly as I did: "Is that an offer?"