The blogging world is abuzz with Google's decision to ban the dating site, CougarLife.com from appearing on AdSense. With celebrity Cougar cub couples like Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore and the RV shows like Cougar Town, cause we all know Courtney Cox-Arquette is the stereotypical cougar - the world has gone really gone cougar crazy. I went on a City Chase in Sydney a few weeks back (think Amazing Race but in the city) and the winning creative team name was - "The Cougar and the Boy". (She didn't really look cougary and he didn't really look like a boy in case you were wondering).


Meanwhile, a recent study conducted in Germany warns that cougars who marry younger men could be shortening their life span by as much as 20%.

It's hardly a new phenomenon really. I remember shows that go as way back as Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris before he was Barney) that talked about the phenomenon - essentially men hit their sexual prime at the age of 17 while a woman's libido doesn't peak until she's about 40 - so really the match up makes sense. And then there are the cougars way before Demi Moore - Elizabeth Taylor with rumours going around that she may be set to make her most recent beau, Jason Winters, hubby number 9. Winters, is of course, 29 years Taylor's junior.


So really, I find myself asking, what's the big deal???

Is this the next part of the great feminism wave and step for women's rights? Now that we are keen on our careers, our social lives, our freedom to have sex like a man - is the next logical step to promote and glorify cougardom so that when we do decide we're ready to settle down - we think we're hot enough to get the 20 something year boy cubs?

What do you think? Why the interest in cougars? Will we see more of them in the coming years or is it just fad?

Cougar Terms to Know

Cougar - a woman, usually aged 35 or older who prefers - and actively pursues younger men - usually 8 years her junior.

Cub - the young male counterpart to the cougar.

Trout - a term used for a male dating a significantly younger female.

Puma - considered a cougar in training, refers to a woman in her late twenties or early thirties who dates a younger man.

Source: Wikipedia