Wanted: Mr Wonderful

• Published in: Independent (London, England : 1986)
• Main Author: Hester Lacey and Glenda Cooper
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Independent Digital News & Media 10.08.1997
• ISSN: 0951-9467

Men in their thirties, she believes, would rather be with younger women. "It buys them time," she says. "If a man is going out with someone who's 22, he doesn't have to worry about settling down or thinking about having a family. With an older woman, if that's what she wants, it comes through very quickly. Suzanne, also 29, has taken to casting an eye over the small ads. "It makes me horrified and depressed," she says. "The men in the age bracket I'm interested in don't want women of my age. They want someone who's, say, between 22 and 27 - yes, they are that specific about age. The men who are interested in me are likely to be 40-plus, but I don't want to go out with a 40 year old." Caroline, Suzanne and Jayne were all surprised to hear that, in fact, there is a large pool of single men floating around. The perception is that single, available chaps are as rare as hens' teeth. It's true that both sexes are choosing to stay single for longer (and six out of ten said in a recent Mintel survey that they enjoy the increased freedom it brings). But in Britain, at every stage in life, a man is more likely to be single than a woman. The last national census showed that between the ages of 30 and 44 men are 50 per cent more likely to be single than women and in any five-year cohort there are always at least 100,000 more single men than single women.