A few weeks ago, my mom came to me with a question: She was becoming increasingly frustrated with dating apps. Were other single women her age feeling that way, too? What she was searching for was innocent enough: someone who she can have fun with, travel with, and ultimately be in a long-term relationship with.
No, thank you. Been there, done that. A one night stand? She's over 55, has been married, had kids, owns a home, and has been providing for herself for years. She was no longer looking for someone to take care of her - she was doing a fine job already - but someone to love and be loved by. She moved to Abu Dhabi in and was teaching at a university there, when a female colleague two decades younger introduced her to Tinder. It was exciting and unlike any other dating experience she had before.
So, she swiped right. And she swiped right a lot. One man she met she described as a multimillionaire who picked her up in a Jaguar limo and took her to the Dubai opera. Another asked her to be his fourth wife after only a couple of dates. There were lots of late nights out dancing, followed by cozy nights in chatting online, getting to know someone.
At this point, my mom estimates she's been on nearly 50 dates - some with men 20 years younger. And though she didn't join Tinder with specific expectations, something wasn't clicking. After a year of using the app, she deleted it. What am I getting out of that other than having a date once in a while?
As an older woman, my mom was confronted with a simple fact: she was now living in a society where the most popular way to date catered to younger generations and fully embraced hook-up culture. This is also a truth Carolina Gonzalez, a writer in London, came face-to-face with after her year marriage ended.
