This happens to us all, boys. It burns when it happens, but later on you look at the women your age and realize they kind of did you a favor by taking them off your hands so you can poach the girls of the generation below you.

It's hard being with women your own age these days, they have this unruly, unrealistic idea that they're your peer based on age alone. Women don't do well when they have an ego, especially when they can't back it up with competence....and it's not fun having your cosmetologist (hair dresser) gf lecturing you as if her professional expertise is just as valuable as 8 years of technical certification. Then they blow things up and jump ship to date a guy 8 years older and you add another horror story to your dating resume.

Suddenly you date a younger girl and it's just happy again, they aren't bucking at the yoke of the relationship trying to establish command authority against yours. Even being 2-3 years older seems to do away with the dynamic. The worst one is dating a girl 3 years older than you, especially in your 20's, where the demarcations of life are more stark. It shouldn't matter that much, but it just sticks in their heads, and affects the entire power dynamic she holds towards you. She doubts you more, equivalizes your experiences, expects you to treat her like a 70% share of the familial authority when things get tough.

So the 25 yo guys shouldn't feel all that burned up about us poaching their 25 yo female cohort - such is the tao of dating. Gen X guys snapped up some of the cuter girls in my class, and in time I found they did us a favor taking care of women too egotistical and diggery for us to handle