"Younger men are so... young."
— Kasumi, Ranma ½
The Distaff Counterpart to Likes Older Women. This is a (usually female) character who, for one reason or another, vastly prefers her male Love Interests to be a few years older than her. The reasons could vary from a character looking for emotional stability, the responsibility that comes with maturity, to the character simply wanting someone with a bigger package size.
As with Likes Older Women, this is an Evolving Trope: For much of western society's history, it was common for a man to only get married when he was financially stable, while his bride was likely to be teenage. Nowadays such a union would be seen as odd, to say the least.
Examples of characters going after older women go on Likes Older Women. Remember, in order to be this trope the preference needs to be commented on in-universe or made apparent by repeated infatuation with older men. If the character only likes a man who happens to be (much) older, it's just an Age-Gap Romance, but if they state his age as a reason why they were interested, or they consistently go after men well above their age, then it's this trope. If they are only interested in the man because of his money they might be a Gold Digger. In order to qualify for this trope, the man has to be older than the character by at least five years.
Also compare Age-Gap Romance, May–December Romance, Precocious Crush, Stacy's Mom, and Teacher/Student Romance. Contrast Really 700 Years Old.
This trope is also common in Queer Media, revolving with tropes such as The Bear and Lover and Beloved.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Ryouko Takeuchi from Blue Seed notes in the 13th episode that she didn't stay with Sugishita because he's a "young pup" and prefers a man with more experience. This may be a factor in why she hooks up with her boss Kunikida, a man who's probably at least ten years her senior, at the end of the series.
- Genshiken: Ohno prefers middle-aged men (bonus points for being bald or wearing sunglasses) instead of the Bishōnen type characters that other fan girls like, as demonstrated by the posters in her room. In addition to their shared passion for cosplay, Ohno finds Tanaka attractive and ends up going out with him because he could pass for her type of older man, despite him actually being barely older than her.
- In Hamatora, Theo has been called this by Nice due to his devotion to his teacher, followed by later interest in a Masseuse.
- The titular character of Isabelle of Parisnote .
You're ten years too young to be hitting on me!
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable: Back when she was a college student, Tomoko Higashikata had an affair with Joseph Joestar, who was already in his sixties. Sixteen years later and she's still deeply in love with him.
- In Magic of Stella, Tamaki has a strange fascination towards older men. It seems to have a Freudian Excuse owing to the fact that she only sees her father once a month.
- In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, Asuna has a stated preference for older guys. Her Vitriolic Best Bud Ayaka even calls her an "Ojicon". However, Asuna is really much, much older than she appears, but doesn't remember it.
- Jiji from Princess Jellyfish has a thing for middle-aged and older men to the point of otaku status.
- Sailor Moon: This seems to be Usagi Tsukino's preference (much to her father's distress), since she's been attracted to Mamoru, Seiya, Motoki, and Haruka (though some of them turned out to not actually be men).
- Mizuki Misawa of Samurai Flamenco gets accused of this in show and in the first Character Talk CD.
- In Tiger & Bunny, Karina Lyle/Blue Rose, has a crush on Kotetsu, who is only the latest in a string of crushes going back to her Elementary school teacher.
- You're Under Arrest!: Natsumi often flirts with Detective Tokuno, whose 10 years older and Happily Married. But her heart is set on her police chief, Kachou, who's more than 20 years older than she is (though he only appears to be in his mid-30s). The guy she actually falls for, however, is Tokairin... who is younger than her.
Comedy
- Pat Buttram (Mr. Haney of GreenAcres) told a rather uncharacteristically off-color story at the Friar's Roast for Rich Little, about an elderly man who was sitting on a park bench crying. When questioned about his troubles, the man spoke of his new thirty-four-year-old wife, and how every day when he comes home, she throws him on the bed, and goes wild all over him. When asked why he is he crying, he responds, "I can't remember where I live!"
Comic Books
- Black Canary: Dinah Lance was 19 when she met Green Arrow, who himself was in or near his 40s. He's been de-aged since, but is still old enough to have a son who's only a few years younger than Dinah. When he was dead, she also briefly romanced Ra's Al Ghul (who is several centuries her senior), who though she didn't know it was him at the time, she still thought he was a man who had a daughter her age.
- Button Man: Invoked by Adele when she visits a high society party to find one of the people responsible for her father's murder, a middle-aged Scottish businessman. She seduces him by openly declaring that she has a thing for older men.
Fan Works
- In Dash's New Mom, Twilight falls for Rainbow Dash's father Blue Streak, who obviously has a daughter around her age.
- Smurfette in the alternate timeline explored by Traveler Smurf in the Empath: The Luckiest Smurf story "Papa Smurf & Mama Smurfette" falls in love with Papa Smurf and eventually marries him and has his child, eventually leading the other Smurfs to rebel against Papa Smurf and exile him, his wife, their daughter, and Polaris Psyche from the village. Hogatha as Wonderette in the normal timeline story "The Other Smurfette" teases Papa Smurf with this kind of affection towards him as she publicly kisses him on the mouth right before Smurfette.
- The Life and Times of a Winning Pony: Twinkleshine, as Twilight points out in The New Life of a Winning Pony, has consistently shown romantic interest in older stallions: she had a serious crush on a teacher while in school, and eventually becomes involved with Tornado Kicker, who's a good couple decades older than her.
- Implied in The Wrong Reflection, which opens with viewpoint character Kanril Eleya's younger sister Teri marrying a vedek* named Armen Aldos. Eleya mentions offhand that her new brother-in-law was a teacher's aide for her when she was in school (and Teri is four years younger than 29-year-old Eleya, which puts Aldos in his late thirties, minimum).
- In There's No One Like You, Luz is mentioned to have entered numerous relationships with both older men and women after her experience at Camp Reality Check. One particular such partner named Kyle is repeatedly brought up, with it being mentioned that he was married and Luz didn't know. She manages to grow out of this after starting a relationship with Amity, who is her own age.
Films — Animation
- Downplayed in Turning Red. Mei and her friends who are 13-year-olds crush on the 17-year-old Devon.
Films — Live-Action
- Missy in Bill & Ted is only three years older than the title characters, yet ended up marrying both of their fathers over the course of the series. Dialogue also implies that she might have slept with one of the teachers during her school years.
- Crazy, Stupid, Love: 17 year old Jessica it turns out is in love with Cal, who's old enough he could be her father (she babysits his kids) and indeed he's friends with her dad. This comes to the point that she takes nude photos of herself to give him (which ends up getting Cal in trouble). Jessica took the photos on the advice of another teenage girl who dates guys older than her (though not that old) which turned out to be a very bad idea.
- My Girl has Vada being in love with her teacher, with her even flat-out telling him, "I love you the same way my dad loves [his new girlfriend]." Upon finding out the teacher is engaged, Vada takes the news very hard. (Vada is not quite twelve.)
- One of the plot devices of Something's Gotta Give, in that Jack Nicholson's character was dating a woman half his age.
- Trixie from Camp South Pines in Summer Camp Nightmare is teased about being this when she does a seductive dance around a Bound and Gagged Mr. Warren, the camp director, at a co-ed dance held by the junior counselors who overtook the summer camp.
- The otherwise-forgettable Greta Garbo film Two-Faced Woman has the classic line "I like older men. They're so grateful."
Literature
- Holly from Breakfast at Tiffany's is attracted to older men and states that she isn't into men under 42.
- In Gate, Beefeater E Caty is noted by her peers to have an attraction to "father" type men. She eventually gets into a relationship with the middle-aged Colonel Kengun Shunya after he saves her life.
- A minor character in the Inspector Morse book "Service of all the Dead" (but not its TV adaptation) is Carole, a teenage schoolgirl with a crush on her thirtysomething teacher — to the point where they would have slept together, had circumstances not intervened. When the teacher disappears and Morse investigates, she reflects that she seems to have a preference for older men: she found Morse attractive, too.
Live-Action TV
- The Affair: Whitney likes older men to a fault. This includes 30-year-old Scott in season 1 when she was still underage at the time, and a 40-something artist in season 3 who has a daughter two years her senior.
- In the last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Main Characters finally comment on Buffy's tendency to date older guys. When she goes out with a man ten years older than her, Willow mentions that this is "a hundred years younger than your usual".
- In Californication, 16-year-old Mia says she has a thing for older men. In her last scene, she says she is over it.
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has White Josh (in his 20's) dating Darryl (in his 40's). On a trip to a Faux Burning Man festival, Darryl meets several of Josh's exes and realizes they're all his age. White Josh insists it's not a fetish, he apparently just has a type.
- Chiana in Farscape may be a bisexual example. She has heavy Les Yay with the much older Noranti in "Bringing Home the Beacon" and Altana in "Home on the Remains", and towards the end of "A Prefect Murder" she starts hitting on the incredibly wizened Paroos. Her main Love Interest in the series is Ka D'Argo, a widower with a son around Chiana's age.
- Fellow Travelers:
- Tim Laughlin is attracted to older men. When he was a college student at Fordham University, he slept with a Catholic priest who was on the faculty. A few years later, he fell in love with Hawkins Fuller, who is roughly ten years his senior.
- At a San Francisco gay bar in 1986, a young man in his 20s hits on Hawk (who's in his late 60s and is attractive for his age) with "Hey Dad, lookin' good," and lets him know that he's available for sex after he's done with his current date. Hawk declines his offer because the guy doesn't take the AIDS epidemic seriously, and thus it's too risky to bed someone who likely doesn't practice safe sex.
- On How I Met Your Mother Ted (now in his mid-thirties) dates a woman in her early twenties who's clearly only interested in him because of how much older he is. She's so obsessed with age that Ted comments, "She doesn't have daddy issues, she has granddaddy issues."
- M*A*S*H. Invoked in "Potter's Retirement," where, during the Kentucky Derby party, Hawkeye - dressed like a Colonel Sanders Expy — once again hits on Bigelow, only for her to actually go along with him this time.
Hawkeye: Why has it taken you over a year?
Bigelow: [tugs on Hawkeye's false beard] I like older men. - There's an episode on the fourth season of That '70s Show in which Red Forman talks with a young cashier from Pricemart about being a good girl for his son Eric (as a way to cheer him up after his breakup with Donna), but she instead touches Red's leg with a naughty face implying she likes Red. Eric later realizes this when he decides to talk with this girl and she asks every time if Red will be in house too.
- Whose Line Is It Anyway? In a game of The Millionaire Show, the theme is frisky old people; when Ryan uses his lifeline to make a call, he calls Kathy Greenwood, who is his twentysomething girlfriend. On the phone, Kathy calls Ryan her "Sugar Daddy."
Music
- "Guys My Age" by Hey Violet is about the singer's past upsets with "guys her age" and finding success with a "grown-up".
- Latin pop star Becky G hit it big with her song "Mayores" (Older [Men]), where she talks about her taste for older men who treat her "like a lady" by opening doors, sending flowers, etc.
Theater
- In The Moon is Blue, Patty tells Don that he's too young for her to see as a potential husband and that she really wants to marry "a nice, middle-aged man with gobs of dough," preferably an unhappily divorced one who might have kids. She finds the type in David Slater.
- Howie, in the original stage version of Speech And Debate, frequents online chat rooms looking for older men. This backfires when he finds his drama teacher, Mr. Healy, on there, and they talk for a while before exchanging pictures. Even though he initially denied it, Howie did go to a nearby park to meet up with Healy, but Healy didn't show. Possibly Solomon, as well, though it could be an instance of Healy taking advantage of a younger, insecure, and not-openly-gay student he knew wouldn't blab about their relationship if it went sour.
Video Games
- Genny from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, the remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, explicitly says that she likes older men. She's said to have married a male ally if she survives, but the name of her husband is carefully hidden.
- In The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, Nanase dislikes "pretty boys" and prefers roughed up, older men.
- The Last Sovereign: Aka. Typical JRPG protagonist Tal does nothing for her, however, she takes an immediate liking to Old Soldier Simon who has a good thirty years over her. Yarra likes to tease her about her "old man" fetish but Aka explains that it's more about experience and distinguishment.
- Sara Valestein of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel series openly prefers older middle-aged men, most notably Laura's father Victor Arseid. The one exception in the first game is protagonist Rean Schwarzer if the player chooses to romance her. In Cold Steel III, she calls Rutger the Jaeger King "a real fox," even though he's "a far cry from the Viscount. [Victor]"
- Mortal Kombat X: Jacqui admits to finding her best friend Cassie's dad Johnny (yes, that Johnny) Cage attractive, much to Cassie's horror.
Visual Novels
- Maggey Byrde from Ace Attorney seems to have a thing for older men, as she dated a fellow police officer no less than eight years older than her.
- Dr. Ayame Yukishita in Kiss of Revenge is very definite about her preference for older men... and when she says older men, she means much older men, in their sixties at the youngest. (Ayame, for reference, is about thirty-two.)
- Discussed in Melody between the title character and Sophia when the protagonist starts tutoring Melody. Sophia claims that Melody should see if she likes him, because experience makes older men better than their own age-mates.
Web Animation
- Anon: Candace was involved with TWO love interests that were notorious for being somewhat older than her.
- The page image comes from Emirichu's "Childhood Crushes 3" video, in which she discussed childhood crushes with fellow animators Sultan Sketches, TheAMaazing and GinjaNinjaOwO, and it's brought up that Rea and Emily have crushes on people like David Hasselhoff, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nicolas Cage.
- RWBY: Weiss purrs over the Rusted Knight and compliments his maturity when she meets him in Volume 9, and her subsequent attempt to salvage her ladylike decorum leaves Blake and Yang highly amused. The Rusted Knight is actually Jaune Arc after he's spent decades in the Ever After waiting for Team RWBY due to a mishap with a Clock Fruit causes him to go back in time. When it becomes apparent that Jaune isn't in the best mental health after being stranded in a magical world with nothing but his trauma for company, Weiss becomes increasingly protective and supportive of him as the volume progresses. When the end of the volume de-ages Jaune back to being a teenager, Weiss reacts to his dorkiness with an affectionate giggle, confirming that the irritation she used to hold for his teenage self is long gone.
Web Original
- Persona Requis Aeterna: Though she's friends with men her own age, Kazune refuses to look at anyone less than 5 years older than her as an actual love interest.
