If you read my ranking of Leon Kennedy’s character models throughout Resident Evil games, then you know that I find older men to be quite attractive. After Netflix released “Age of Attraction,” their latest mass hallucination disguised as reality TV, there is now talk online about whether the show’s age-gap relationships are appropriate.
It is common for younger people to fantasize about dating older people. Crushes on older celebrities allow people to explore their feelings safely without the pressure of relationships or dangerous situations. In “Age of Attraction,” however, the relationships escape fantasy.
A 22-year-old contestant, Libby Vodicka, explained that the reason why she chose to join the show was because she felt unwanted and mistreated by men her age. She dates a 38-year-old, making their age gap 16 years. One of the contestants, a potential partner of Libby’s, is 60 years old. This can lead to people Libby’s age range thinking these relationships are normal, and influence college students to put themselves in situations with unbalanced power dynamics. If she was 30, it would be different. She would have another decade of maturity and life outside of school.
The show says its only rule is that the participants cannot ask each other for their ages. The strangest thing is that the singles can see the faces and bodies of each other, unlike “Love is Blind,” another dating show by Netflix. Despite the question of the show being “Is age really just a number?” The contestants are easily able to differentiate between the older and younger singles based on their appearances.
The idea that older people are more mature and respectful is very attractive, but is it true? In a fantasy, sure, but it is more likely that a 50-year-old who is willing to date a 20-year-old is predatory, not mature. Maybe it would not be such an attractive idea if people were emotionally satisfied by partners in their age range.
This is not to say that an older person dating someone in college is a predator the way it would be for teenagers and children, but a great difference in maturity can be dangerous. Even an age gap of five years between a 20-year-old and a 25-year-old can be unhealthy, so encouraging relationships between people in their 20s and those older than their parents seems irresponsible.
There is an appeal to the taboo of age gap relationships, so much so that Netflix could create a show around it. Reality TV and real life are different, so college students need to be cautious of older people trying to take advantage of them. What seems fun in a daydream is not always fun in real life. Shows like these can normalize dangerous dynamics. College students need to know that dating people much older will not mirror “Age of Attraction,” but possibly traumatize them.