I really hate this idea that women should be looking for older men. Most of the time, women want older men because of financial stability or that "he's gotten it all out of his system." Unfortunately, that push toward older men is definitely affecting the youth.

Out of nowhere, I was reminded of a post I saw asking why nobody spoke about the experiences of teenage fathers. One person followed by saying that teenage fathers largely do the same things that teenage boys without kids do. Another person followed by giving the research that found that there are many more teen mothers then there are teen fathers. This is not because teen boys are out here impregnating multiple teenage girls but because grown men are out here impregnating teenage girls.

Regardless of the popular depiction of "teenage" pregnancy as an event involving two teenagers, the best statistics indicate that around two-thirds of the male partners of teenage females and one-fifth of the female partners of teenage males are older than age 20. No matter what age limit is cited as defining "teenage pregnancy" and childbearing ("teenagers" under age 20; "adolescents" under age 18; or females under the "age of consent," — 16 in most states), the large majority of male sexual partners will be older than that age limit.

What this research showed me is that overwhelmingly men are reaching below the age of majority in order to have a woman they can control. This paper also detailed the increases in STD transmission when teenage girls have "relationships" with older men.