Women vs Men Sexism by Age

8 Tropes 5 Movies 2 TV Shows
Table Of Contents

Explanation of Conservative Trope

Sexism by age is prevalent in Hollywood where older men having relationships with younger women is normal but older women being with younger men is not.

Conservative Trope Examples

  • Hall Pass (2011) | Women Attracted to Much Younger Men is Not Normal
    Grace (Christina Applegate) sleeps with a college baseball player even though she's old enough to be his mom.
  • Ocean's Thirteen (2007) | Women Attracted to Much Younger Men is Not Normal
    Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) seduces a much older Abigail Sponder (Ellen Barkin) to gain access to a sensitive area where diamonds were hidden. They originally were going to have older Rusty do it but Linus points out that she is a "cougar". He also uses a drug that when she smells it, she is instantly smitten by him and acts like someone drunk.
    Additional Tropes: Women are Easily Smitten by Men
  • Love Actually (2003) | Men With Much Younger Women is Normal
    Aurelia is a gorgeous Portuguese housekeeper working for Jamie (Colin Firth) who miraculously falls for him despite the fact she is many years younger than the middle-aged and disheveled author.
  • Love Actually (2003) | Men With Much Younger Women is Normal
    Harry's (Alan Rickman) new secretary Mia makes it clear she wants to be with him despite the fact that 1) he's her boss, 2) he is married and 3) she is much younger than him.
  • American Pie (1999) | Women Attracted to Much Younger Men is Not Normal
    Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) walks into a room clearly marked with a "Please Keep Out" sign on the door and encounters Stiffler's mom (Jennifer Coolidge) having a drink next to a pool table. Instead of asking him to leave, she flirts with him by offering him a drink that's been aged 18 years, which she says is "the way I like it." As the song "Mrs. Robinson" begins to play in the background—a sly reference to the movie "The Graduate"—Stiffler's mom looks over at the pool table and tells Finch "you're dead" as the camera pans away and they presumably have sex.
  • Friends [1997 - S3E18] | Women Attracted to Much Younger Men is Not Normal
    Phoebe's (Lisa Kudrow) long lost brother Frank Jr. (Giovanni Ribisi) is engaged to his (much older) former high school teacher Alice Knight (Debra Jo Rupp).
  • Friends [1996 - S2E15] | Men With Much Younger Women is Normal
    Dr. Richard Burke (Tom Selleck) is old enough to be Monica's (Courteney Cox) father, is friends with her parents and has known her since she was a young child, but Monica sets aside any reservations she has about dating her parents friend and jumps right in to a relationship with him.
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) | Men With Much Younger Women is Normal
    A college student was so smitten by Indiana Jones, she wrote "love you" on her eyelids to catch his attention in class. Harrison Ford was 39 years old at the time.
    Additional Tropes: Women are Easily Smitten by Men