Equal opportunity

Ah, the dating world. It's a world full of ups and downs. In many ways, it resembles an amusement park, and it's definitely not shy on nausea-inducing events. Of course, with a rapidly changing world, dating has been forced to keep up. Online dating, speed-dating, and group dating have all grown in popularity over the years as people have less and less time to devote to romantic endeavors.

Generally, within the world of dating, there's been a bit of a disparity. Women have generally been encouraged to seek financial security, irregardless of the looks of the men, while plenty of men have stepped into the dating pool long enough to find the youngest, most attractive fish out there that they can play provider for. For years, these pairings of older, richer men with younger, more attractive women have been something of a standard, at least outside of the couples in the same relative age, looks, and finances columns. But a new speed-dating event being organized in New York City is looking to change some of that, or at least present equal footing. They don't want young women to be looked at as arm candy anymore.

Well, okay, so they still want that. But they want "boy toys" to be added to the mix.

The website promoting the event carries the words, "Symbiosis has allowed ugly rich men to attract young, gorgeous, money-hungry women for centuries; it's now the women's turn", and that concept alone is causing some men looking for a "sugar mama" to the February 7 event. The women are being asked to be over the age of 35, and to make a cool half-million dollars per year, all to further entice young men to their table.

But before people start jumping the gun to claim that this is just another way to objectify women, it should be noted that the women actually tend to prefer younger men, because they tend to pay more attention. One woman says, "I find younger guys will usually be totally into you while older guys will be looking over your shoulder at a younger woman". For years, the saying has been, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander". Well, maybe it's time for these geese to take a taste of what the ganders have been toying with for years.

Besides, most of the men who would attend the event aren't there to objectify the older woman. While there may be a physical component to it, these men are looking to her intelligence, her experience, and to her accomplishments. Oh yeah. And her pocketbook.

Ah, money. The great equalizer.