User:Deathbunny/Sandbox

{{Cleanup-afd|date=September 2010}} {{Multiple issues|contradict = September 2010|refimprove = December 2010}}

Age disparity in sexual relationships is common trait in many cultures, particularly associated with specific social dynamics such as gerontocracy and formal prescriptions and proscriptions of marital partners. Age disparity is also associated with non-durable monogamy and divorce where there is a difference in desirability between partners based on social influence or economic power.

Social Construction[edit]

Beyond the biological restrictions on sexual relationships—discussed below—most factors influencing the age of partners are of a cultural or social nature. These factors involve partner availability and social norms or rules about allowed partners and preferred partners. A common element of social construction is the use of one's sexual access to gain access to preferred partners or resources^[1].

Demographics and age of consent[edit]

Young males—while physically in their prime—are often not ideal partners due to a lack of available resources and a tendency toward risky behavior. Given the female dependence on male or other social support for raising children in hunter-gatherers and socially mandated need for support in many agricultural cultures, a preference for an established, older male partner is understandable. This bias may form one of the bases for polygyny some cultures.

Differences in survival rates may also account for some of the age discrepancy. Many cultures share a preference for male offspring which manifest in either direct—through selective abortion and infanticide—or indirect—through preferential resource allocation—change in the survival rates of female offspring. This is evident in the demographics of modern China under the one child rule and certain portions of the Indian population.

A second source of survival rate variation occurs in young adulthood with younger males disproportionately dying in violence—crime and warfare—causing a reduced availability of these men as partners directly and—over time—men in older groups. Combined with increased survival of elderly women post-menopause, this creates a relative surplus of women in many adult categories.

Age of consent—legal or cultural means of regulating access to younger sexual partners—are socially contrived efforts used to manipulate the demographics of available sexual partners. As suggested below—this can create an artificial demand for partners of particular age groups through prohibiting sexual activities between them. Age of consent can also be assumed to increase demand for specifically non-prohibited partners as a default.

The overall effects of increased competitiveness for younger women and for older males^[1] simultaneously with surpluses of older women and—comparatively younger males may drive some of the social elements of age discrepancy in sexual partners.

Gerontocracy[edit]

In cultures where power and influence—or wealth—is accumulated or inherited, the degree of influence may be separate from physical prowess or appearance and result in a positive bias toward elderly partners. In these social systems, preferred partners may be the older, more established members of one or both sexes^[2]. Where this is combined with either biases in power by sex or a difference in survival by sex, a gerontocracy may result.

Prescribed partners[edit]

In many Arab cultures as well as Australian Aborigines, there are social norms that limit the choice of sexual and marriage partners based on fixed, impersonal groupings. In the Arab^[3]^[4] and Pakistani cultures^[5]^[6] , these choices are often based on a familial desire to preserve long-standing alliances or accumulated wealth with a mean decrease of age difference in marriage partners while increasing consanguinity. Non-familial partners average a higher mean age difference.

For the Aborigines, the limits imposed by a complex, social structure suggested to reduce conflict create semi-artificial constraints on partner choice.

For both of these cultures and others, the tendency is to allow marriage between socially prescribed partners with less regard to partner age due to the limited availability of qualified partners. The social bonds often trump the personal relationships within these marriages and result in the potential for age discrepancy.

Biological Implications[edit]

Beyond the social elements of age disparity—primarily money and power—there are several factors relating to the biological aspects of age. One factor is female preferences in partners across the ovulatory cycle which alters the desirability of certain socially and biologically relevant traits^[7]. This difference may alter the results of studies only focussing on sexual activity or only focussing on marriage.

Other biological elements include factors influencing young and old sexual behavior.

Juvenile behavior and puberty[edit]

In most apes, there is a period between the onset of puberty and the first conception (for females) of sexual interest and juvenile infertility^[8]. In human's closest extant relatives—the Chimpanzee and Bonobo—this period correlates with opportunistic sexual activity and the dispersal of females to different troops. It is theorized the behavior within this period—prosocial sex and seeking the dominant members of other troops sexually—are means which reduce inbreeding and promote the reproductive success of young females.

In humans, many modern cultures still consider young women children and restrict their sexual activity. While this may allow a young woman opportunity to complete culturally mandated education and improve her ability to function in society later, it also creates a biologically artificial sexual vacuum which allows people with social influence to bend or break the rules and access these young women. In societies with social influence tied to dominance or accumulated, sex-biased power, this favors access by older men, often in positions of actual or perceived authority.

Male aging and menopause[edit]

Male capability to impregnate women spans the adult lifespan, several physiological effects reduce their ability to father offspring yet not enough to completely hinder the process in some men. For many men, this is due to either accumulated damage across the lifespan or a reduction in sex hormones in senescence.

Unlike men, women are biologically predisposed to loss of fertility in adulthood. One theory—the grandmother hypothesis—suggests this functions to allow required maternal care for later children and to support the alloparental care of her grandchildren. The general effect is the loss of fertility in women while males of similar age remain reproductively competent and often socially desirable.

Functionally, while older women often retain or increase their social or economic value, their desirability for reproductive-minded men often flags resulting in—as discussed above—either non-durable monogamy or polygyny in an effort to gain access to partners with remaining reproductive capacity. Partners not interested in reproducing—like many younger men—may also seek these women as partners because their conception risk is low.

Incidence[edit]

A study released in 2003 by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics concluded that the proportion of women in England and Wales marrying younger men rose from 15% to 26% between 1963 and 1998. ^[9]

In August 2010, Dr. Michael Dunn of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff completed and released the results of a study on age disparity in dating. Dr. Dunn concluded that "Not once across all ages and countries...did females show a preference for males significantly younger than male preferences for females" and that there was a "consistent cross-cultural preference by women for at least same-age or significantly older men." A 2003 AARP study had previously brought results that 34% of forty-year and older women were dating younger men.^[10]