Older white women join Kenya's sex tourists

How can I blame them I have a young wife, its just as bad, no not bad, good

glad you saw the funny side, Glinda. I reckon 'former hippy chicks' is a factor as is possibly living in a society where it is still a challenge for older women to 'go on the pull'. I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Agreed. Might as well play Russian roulette if you're going to do that in Africa. Or Washington, DC for that matter.

However, JB, it's probably the objectification of women that leads to a situation where older women are seen as not having any "sexual currency"..that leads to situations like this.

it's probably the objectification of women

How is that true? Older men don't have "sexual currency" either. I think that's more a factor of age regardless of gender.

All I am saying is that you can't have it both ways. Do you disagree?

Heh. As regards old men and their sexual attractiveness to younger women the final word on that goes to the late Redd Foxx. When asked shortly before his death how he met his young Asian wife he said, "Well, I was playing Vegas and one night I opened up my wallet and there she was."

Hahaha...good ol' Redd Foxx. Probably so true. He was a funny guy especially back in the day when he was X-rated. I don't know JB, but it seems that older men have been getting younger women for a long time and seem to take some pride in their 'arm candy'. This has always been much more socially acceptable than the reverse. IMO, both older men and older women can still be sexy and desireable as partners with much to offer outside of material goods. It's all about how someone takes care of themselves physically and mentally. Especially these days, older is younger than it used to be. But, be honest. You know as well as I that an older man w/a younger woman raises many fewer eyebrows than an older woman with a younger man. Another thing, regarding older women with younger men...younger men tend to have fewer problems sexually and you know that's got to be appealing.

Some sexy older men that come to mind to me include Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Tommy Lee Jones and Bob Dylan even. Can't think of more atm.

Well, I'm 53 and go out with women ranging in age from early '30s to early '50s. Some of the young 'uns are so ignorant in so many ways that despite the physical allure the attraction is short-lived. One of my friends is in her early '50s and could easily pass for fifteen years younger. Same's true with younger guys too. Many have a thing for "cougars". Buddy of mine (28) who's a marketing guy at Congressional Quarterly had a major crush on Mo Dowd after he ran into her at the airport and we won't even get started on when he was enlisted to accompany Darryl Hannah to CQ's big dinner here in town last year.

I'm not saying it's wrong at all for women or men to go on these sex tourism trips (or, in general, for either gender to want a younger partner for sex ). I'm just saying that participating kind of disqualifies you from condemning sexual objectification.

But, be honest. You know as well as I that an older man w/a younger woman raises many fewer eyebrows than an older woman with a younger man.

No, wouldn't agree with that. I think you're making a convenient (but not true) generalization. And i don't see how you can make that assumption other than by projecting your own opinion. I personally don't think there really is a difference and haven't seen much in American (or Western) culture to make me think otherwise.

But men retain sexual allure longer than women do, as far as most see it.

Says who? not me, and not a lot of men I know. Again, i think this is a patently false generalization. How can you show me this is the case?

How many years has old George Clooney been tops of the sexiest list? Compare with any list of sexiest women, you won't see anyone over 25 on it however much money they have.

Sure, Clooney's been on a magazine list for a while, but so what? he's also rich, as is everybody else on there. Does that mean money and wealth is what make males attractive? A few magazine lists aren't exactly a very good thermometer for our culture, especially if you're going to make generalizations about gender relations.

How is that true? Older men don't have "sexual currency" either

Grrrr this old man does, women are falling in love with my wallet every day.

Actually some old men do, many young women are not looking for the cash, but the experience of life and the knowledge that older men can give them the attention and time they deserve. More often and not a old man with a young Asian wife becomes surprised at the fact that the young wife is very much in love with him. They don't all go for the gold and the diamonds many see the older man as someone not only to support them but someone they can really love and care for. As for sex the younger woman finds its normally better with an older man of whom make sure she enjoys it, where as a young man is normally out to enjoy himself.

@ Glinda #7.6

I was just chatting about Italian films with a coworker and he mentioned that Monica Bellucci was born in 1964.

I'm sure a list of attractive women over 25 could go on for hours, but I understand your point. I just had to be the devil's advocate.

I've had 4 serious relationships in my life so far, and all have been between 3 and 7 years older than me. I may take you up on your offer!

Can you believe that MSNBC's Chris Jansing is nearly 51? I wouldn't have put her much past 35.

Just a side note - and possibly an apocryphal one - but I recall hearing a news story about how the growth in HIV infection in the caribbean had more to do with wealthy white women traveling from man to man than from the men themselves.

I initially saw the article through my gmail account news banner (which makes everyone wonder why this particular topic showed up at all, knowing that gmail throws information at you that it thinks interests you based on what it finds in your emails and how often you click on links...)

Anyhow, it was listed under "Oddly Enough" not odd news, my mistake. It doesn't show up in the Yahoo! News link you seeded, but if you go to the original Reuters link it does.

Interesting seed in any case. Thanks, Glinda!

some time ago i remember hearing about the spread of HIV among older men and women, although i don't remember where. i think that this spread was attributed to a lack of understanding about HIV/AIDS among an older population, in part because those individuals involved in "marketing" the safe-sex message failed to account for the sex lives of an older population and failed to transmit this message to them. are there links to stories about this on Newsvine? does anyone know what i'm talking about, or am i overtired and dreaming awake? mbrown, any ideas?

Well I am 61 and I certainly know the threat of HIV, safe sex, both have the tests and then bingo you hope your younger partner knows the threat as well (kind of complicated if they like sleeping with other men).

djproctor...I think the trouble with HIV in older adults is that they were young in the 60s and 70 where free love reigned and no one thought about diseases like HIV, hell, it didn't exist. So they just haven't been indoctrinated in the same ways as say the thirty-somethings

djproctor:
I'm familiar with what you are talking about. I partially referred to it in an earlier post. The people responsible for getting the word out about HIV, as you said, did not consider gearing part of the campaign to the older population because they were not thinking about the older population having an active sex life with more than one monogamous partner. Also it has been a dramatically rising problem in the older population because, in the days before HIV, condoms were for preventing pregnancy only. In their mind, if you're too old to get pregnant that equals no need for a condom. Unprotected sex among the older population has caused HIV to spread like wildfire among them. A suspicion of mine, though no one has studied it, is this: older people that die of pneumonia or some other kind of infection observed by the doctor presiding over the death certificate are actually dying of the root cause of HIV with an opportunistic infection finishing them off. They aren't suspected of having HIV/AIDS, they are never tested and you have a silent epidemic that has been going on for longer than we have realized. Just something I thought of, I'd be interested in getting some people's comments on the validity of that theory.