Is “Cougar” a dirty word?
This is the second piece we’ve featured from guest blogger, Jane Copeland, on Toyboy Warehouse. This one regards the use of the term “cougar” and whether it’s misrepresentative. In other words, is it a dirty word?
Our cousins across the pond haven’t seemed to think so, but with the rise of its use in popular culture, they seem to be taking a different tack.
What’s your opinion?
Here’s Jane’s article:
So who and what is a Cougar?
Strong reactions aside, finding an actual definition of what defines an archetypal Cougar, is not easy. Originating at a bar in Canada in 2001, the term has exploded into mainstream language and has become known as a woman romantically involved with a younger man.
A rising trend
“Cougarism is a significant social phenomena, almost like a movement”, says Social Anthropologist, Dr Bella Ellwood- Clayton. And it’s a trend that’s catching, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In figures released in 2011, women choosing partners ten years younger had risen by 25%. Cougar-hype is now part of pop culture, fuelled by a fascination with the like of Demi Moore’s marriage to Ashton Kutcher 15 years her junior.
The Mrs Robinsons
Despite being an accepted and growing social trend, it is clear that the parents of the students at Corner Canyon High School identified the word Cougar with something quite repelling. It’s likely that the view they shared was that of a predatory Mrs. Robinson type – is a desperate older woman seducing impressionable younger man in bars.
The Ubercats
It’s true. Women are proactively seeking out sexually based relationships with significantly younger men. But this isn’t the case for all women who are dating younger men. It’s common for the younger man to pursue the older woman. This is partly due to the increasing appeal of the modern Cougar. She is a type of Ubercat – a confident and successful dynamo, who looks after herself both physically and financially.
Some of these women have ended up dating a younger man due to lifestyle changes. Women’s growing political, social and economic power, also means that women have more choice, according to Ellwood-Clayton, “for the first time in history an older women’s vitality and sexuality is being celebrated.”
Age differences vary
Fact is, women of all ages are dating younger men. This is being played out in pop culture in an abundance of popular movies such as The Rebound, Unfaithful and The Proposal, to name but a few. If Cougar extends to women of all ages who date younger men, then Cougardom is everywhere. Danni Minogue and Kim Kardashian have both been cougars, albeit briefly. These women are a far cry from the predatory Mrs. Robinsons of yore.
New branding
The widening of the age group of women who are dating younger men, is giving way to new branding. On the grapevine there’s word of a new Cougar-family subset which categorises women of various ages:
Cheetah, a women in her twenties;
Puma, a women in her thirties;
Cougar, a women in her forties;
Sabertooth, a women in her fifties.
For me, the term Cougar is not dirty, I feel it’s rather exuberant. Re-education does however seem to be needed. One that considers the evolving concept of what the word means. As Fisher states “Now it’s about the older woman being in full bloom”. And oh how the boys have noticed.
What about you. Do you think Cougar is a dirty word?
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