Can Older Women Date Younger Men in Peace?
Despite what Hollywood might have you believe, the cougar is often treated like a witch in South Asian culture.
“Other people make more of this dynamic than it is,” said Ammara Ahmad, a Montreal-based journalist who has dated men who are five to 10 years younger than her. Recently, she told The Juggernaut, she has stopped telling younger men her age at all. “They don’t seem to be too worried about it. They never ask and I never tell them.”
In the West, the older woman-younger man dynamic is packaged as something empowering, thanks to films and shows like Babygirl (2024), The Idea of You (2024), and Cougar Town (2009-15). They depict a world where older women have confidence, clarity, and autonomy; the younger man is curious, less threatened, maybe even grateful.
But in South Asian culture, does the idea of a cougar fly? Shows and films, from Indian Matchmaking to Dil Chahta Hai, have revealed possibly not. Once a woman is older, even by a couple of years, she risks being moved into another category: auntie, divorcée, witch, and, dare I say, scandal. The younger man is under a spell, and the older woman is too independent. The Juggernaut spoke to those in relationships with unexpected age dynamics and experts to get to the bottom of why older women are so taboo — and why it’s time to rethink it all.