Sugar Mommas

Read an interesting tidbit in New Scientist about a soon to be published study.

Fhionna Moore and her colleagues at the University of St Andrews, UK, analysed questionnaires from 1851 heterosexual women between the ages of 18 and 35. They found that as a woman's level of "resource control" increases - in other words as they become more financially independent - so does their preference for physical attractiveness in potential partners.

Women who had low levels of control over their cash rated the financial status of a man over his looks. Those with a decent source of income rated physical attractiveness more highly.

So basically, girls really are just like guys when it comes to picking a mate. As long as they don't have to worry about the mortgage, it's all about looks. And hot sex.

I'm actually seeing this among friends. One friend, recently divorced but financially secure, prefers men 10-20 years younger than she is. If we go to a bar with people over 40, she wants to move on.

Another friend is the same, going for the 25-35 set. She's not really even looking for a boyfriend - one of her new playmates is her "toyfriend" as she terms him.

We went to see a band the other night, and my friend was going to introduce me to the lead singer. When I asked how she knew the lad, she said he was living with one of her girlfriends. Seems that her friend (let's call her Mrs. Robinson) had this guy's band playing at her 40th birthday party, wherein Mrs. Robinson fell in lust with the lead singer, promptly divorced her husband, and now lives with her new toyfriend.

Now, I'm speculating here, but my impression was that the divorced 40-year old woman is financially secure, and that the young band guy is not. It's been a cliche for sometime that men act this way in their "mid-life crisis," dropping their middle-aged wives for some hot new babe. Turns out that men and women are more alike in this regard than previously suspected.

And it's likely not just limited to women "of a certain age." Just look at Paris Hilton, whose regular "he's hot" is the epitomy of praise for her myriad of partners. She's not seeking financial security - she already has it. She wants toyfriends.

This is all pretty consistent with old Maslow's hierarchy of needs, although we may need to tweak "Love" to "Lust."