You spot an attractive man from across the room and suddenly your eyes meet. This locking of eyes lasts for just a few seconds longer than a gaze that just means ''hello.'' He winks at you and offers up a swanky grin. You know that grin. It means, ''I'm available.'' A few moments later he comes over and after you get a closer look you realize, that you are 45 and this is the oldest looking 25 year old male you have ever seen in your life! 
What are those bad names that society calls older women that date younger men again? Cougars! Cradle-robbers! Gulp, even child-molester! 

Still the part of you that believes in equality is outraged at the double-standard society holds against May/December romances. Surely if HE were the older one in this budding attraction, there would not be any problem at all. He would just be behaving like Donald Trump, Michael Douglas and a variety of celebrities and politicians who have much younger wives. 

For centuries it has been more acceptable for an older man to date a younger woman, but not the other way around. In fact, marrying younger woman or at the very least seems very acceptable if not a goal of older man. Look at Woody Allen. Why are men allowed to act out their Lolita complexes while women walk around with an expiry date for romance on their forehead? 

Then other more proactive Hollywood stereotypes come to mind. There are older women out there trying to set an example that reverses this trend. There is Demi Moore and Ashton Kuschter, Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake, and of course, Mary Tyler Moore and her optometrist husband who boast a 20 year age difference. These relationships are a sign that it may no longer be in bad taste or taboo for women to bridge the age gap by dating a younger man. 

May/December romances that feature a woman as the older partner are inevitably on the rise. Women have taken a no holds barred approach to dating and refuse to settle for the ''I'm so desperate, I will just take what I can get!'' They're going after what they want-- a young virile man with plenty of tetesterone. It is a matter of live and let live. Rather than sit at home and mourn their fate as crone while their ex-husbands find some sweet young, some women are definitely taking steps to change this situation. After all it is futile to try and change long-held male attitude such as ''after forty women are sexually obsolete.'' 

If love is supposed to be an ageless, timeless thing, than an age difference should not matter particularly if the eyes that you seem to be locking with seem to be those of a soulmate. Some believe that May/December romances are ultimately doomed, simply because sooner or later, generational differences will cause them to go their separate ways. 

Whether you are male or female, perhaps the key to determining whether or not you are fooling yourself with this relationship is to figure out how much of it is based on pure lust. Not that there is anything wrong with pure lust, but it can make one ''blind'' to certain obvious differences such as the fact that he likes hot-dogs and watching football and you are big fan of the opera and fusion cuisine. If the relationship is created purely for sexual purposes there may be nothing wrong with that. In fact, many men believe that dating a younger woman is a certain kind of stewardship that is not only pleasurable, but helps with the maturing process of the young lady. There is no reason why older women shouldn't maintain the same attitude. 

There is a big danger that these kinds of relationships can take on a kind of parental quality as well. There is nothing worse than having to beg your young lover to make his bed in the morning. Conversely, older males may become frustrated with a young partner's desire to go to a rave and worsen a developing hearing problem. 

Another risk is that the younger partner may become dependent on you. It is a well known that younger lovers have been known to regress and lose their direction in life once they find themselves safely esconsced in the arms of an older lover. In fact, being supported as someone's love slave is good work if you can get it! 

Then there are those embarrassing moments that are inevitably suffered by couples in a May/December romance. Definitely irritating are your colleagues who say bright things like ''I didn't know you had a daughter!'' or ''What high school do you go to?'' 

Unfortunately, because of certain biological certainties, May/December relationships are often of a temporary nature. This is simply because the older individual is fated to die before the younger individual. Couples in this kind of relationship may decide that putting the younger partner through this kind of grief is simply not fair and set them free before feelings run any deeper. Another risk is that the older person may lose their sex drive or their looks. Looks can definitely change suddenly and rapidly between the ages of forty and fifty and although the younger person may swear that they will never ever leave you, the sad truth is that most people do not look the same at fifty-five as they did at forty-five. 

Another concern is the question of childbearing. Some May/December relationships don't survive this issue, particularly if ten years into the relationship, the older individual is destined to go into menopause. This is not as big of a problem for men who retain their mating abilities for life, but it certainly is for women who may discover that their young buddy suddenly wants to fulfill his biological directive to have children. Of course, adoption may be an option for couples that find themselves truly in love. 

Still there are many pros, as opposed to cons to dating a younger person. The younger person benefits from your wisdom and experience and the older person feels revitalized by the ego boost they get from having someone so young finding them attractive. Perhaps the most important thing to remember about the May participant in the romance is that he or she will embrace change more readily than you will. If you are a bit eccentric at all, or set in your ways, than a relationship with a big age gap is probably not for you. However, if you have a lot of energy, spontaneity and are the type that can agree to disagree, then there is no reason why you shouldn't ask that attractive young man across the room out for a date!