‘So much older’: Revealing response to this photo

Age-gap relationships we’re fine with, well, not really, the response to these photos says it all.

OPINION

Age-gap relationships, we’re fine with them unless the woman is older, then we’re furious and disgusted.

Part of becoming a woman is realising, slowly, quickly, and sometimes all at once, how much double standards exists.

Sometimes, the reminders are loud, like finding out you’re statistically likely to earn less than men and sometimes, they are quiet, like the waiter always assuming your boyfriend ordered the steak.

In general, I think women have a bit of a “let’s just get on with it” mentality. You want to rage against the machine, but not too much that it becomes at your own expense.

Sometimes though, pop culture just tips you over the edge, and you need a second to state the obvious.

It is no secret that Hollywood has embraced age-gap romances with gusto. Rich, powerful, good-looking men, and finding partners 20 years younger than themselves is normal.

I realise not everyone is thrilled about it, Leonardo DiCaprio has become a meme because of his preference for models in their twenties. But generally, men dating younger women is normal.

Leo’s romantic choices have gone viral. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images/AFP

Gigi and Bradley have started dating. Picture: ShotbyNYP / BACKGRID

When supermodel Gigi Hadid, 29, started dating Bradley Cooper, 50, earlier this year, I don’t think anyone really cared about the two decades between them.

There was a bit of sniggering online about the age gap, but in general, people were just excited that two famous people were hooking up and their age difference was just a bit of context.

In the same way, people are always mildly surprised to be reminded that Michael Douglas is 25 years older than his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones or that Ryan Reynolds is a decade older than Blake Lively.

You might say, “Well, age is just a number, and everyone is an adult, so who cares?” But people do really care when the woman is the older one.

Michael Douglas is 25 years older than his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones. Picture: Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney

Ryan is a decade older than Blake. Picture: by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Meghann Fahy, 34, was a star on The Bold Type but found breakout success in the second season of The White Lotus.

She’s dating Leo Woodall, 28, whom she met on The White Lotus set. They have a six-year age gap, which isn’t really that much, far less than Leonardo DiCaprio and whoever he is dating, but the response has been cruel.

She snagged her big break on The White Lotus. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

She’s only six years older than Leo. Picture: Splash/Backgrid

Online people claim that she looks “old enough to be his mum” and argue that she looks even older than she is.

“Why is Leo dating Meghann Fahy they don’t look nice together?” One fan complained.

“She really does look so much older than him,” someone else said.

“Her beauty is too mature,” one said.

Leo Woodall is only six years younger. Picture: Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images

The response to their relationship says it all. Picture: Instagram/meghannfahy

Meanwhile, Hadid and Cooper’s romance is being met with praise, and there aren’t multiple comments asking what the Hollywood actor’s age is underneath any photo of the two together.

Instead of people saying Cooper looks too old for the 29-year-old supermodel, someone has commented and said they look “lit together”.

Another said this is proof Hadid has great taste, and someone else claimed they “make sense together”.

Cooper is two decades older than Hadid. Picture: Joe Maher/Getty Images

People think the couple make sense. Picture: Instagram/GigiHadid

It is illuminating that, unlike Fahy, where it is physically impossible for her to be old enough to be Woodall’s mother, Cooper is old enough to be Hadid’s dad and no one is pointing that out.

He was 20 years old when the supermodel was born, and yet the discourse around their relationship is completely different.

Look, I’m sure someone has pointed it out somewhere on the internet, but I’m talking about the general cultural conversation. When photos of Fahy and Woodall go viral, her age is discussed.

When photos of Cooper and Hadid go viral, it is far more skewed around the fact they’re a Hollywood power couple.

It does feel a bit like I’m banging my head against a brick wall here, but why on earth aren’t woman allowed to date younger men without ridicule?

There’s no reasonable explanation for this, just that the world is sexist and unfair, and it is just further proof that women can’t get away with even half as much as men can.

Meanwhile, men can date women half their age, and everyone couldn’t care less.

Originally published as ‘So much older’: Revealing response to this photo