On Saturday the New York Times warned of the problem of elderly women being conned on dating sites in Swindlers Target Older Women on Dating Websites. They lead with a widow and church secretary in her 70s who fell for such a scammer. Of course, her online dream man was looking for someone just like her, a woman 20-30 years older than him who was “confident” and “outspoken” and wanted to travel to Italy.
[he] described himself as a middle-aged German businessman looking for someone “confident” and “outspoken” to travel with him to places like Italy, his “dream destination.”
While the NYT is doing a service by warning of the scams, it is important to remember that the media itself has been grooming these women their entire lives to believe such scams. It has convinced them that their advanced age is sexy to men in their prime, and that their romantic options are abundant should they only take the plunge and let the desperate studs compete for their attention.
The same media has also taught these women that their cliché feminist personalities are both attractive and rare, something a successful middle aged businessman would be lucky to ever find. The reality is the exact opposite. It wasn’t just the scammers telling these women the lies they wanted to hear. The media has been doing this their whole lives.
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