Cougar Women, Crazy Cat Ladies, or Sad Spinsters?

Cougar women, indeed. What is it with today’s media that they feel obliged to slot single women over 40 into obnoxious and vaguely demeaning stereotypes?

Over 40, single, and looking for a partner? You must be a Cougar Woman, a sex-starved Cat Woman of a predator who’s out every night in skintight clothes and stilettos, stalking younger men.

Over 40, single, and not looking for a partner, thank you very much? You must be a Desperate Spinster, sitting at home every night, alone, and lonely, watching your DVD of Pride & Prejudice for the 100th time. Ooh, Mr Darcy!

Over 40, single, and fond of your pets (like 99 percent of the population)? You must be a Crazy Cat Lady, with a smelly, furball-infested house, and a case file with the Public Health Department.

Yes, the media need to sell papers, and attract people to their websites. Writing about well-adjusted, happy single women over 40 doesn’t make for titillating headlines. But it does smack of an anti-female bias when the majority of features on post-40 women follow some sensationalist angle.

We’re all pushed products 24-7 that promise to make us healthy, youthful, and comfortable in our own skin.

But Heaven forbid that we don’t fit society and the media’s stereotypical idea of what comfortable should be. What if we’re just normal, happy, independent, fun people, busy with living our lives?

There’s obviously no story in that.

So here’s to us, ladies. Cougar women rule. May we do what we want, when we want, without a stereotype in sight. If that's "cougar dating", then go to it, I say.

I’m off to feed my cats and watch Mr Darcy emerge from that pond.