I see that these are common rationalizations of why an older man should not date a younger woman. First of all I'm of the opinion that people who use those arguments have already started with a conclusion about it and are working backwards to justify with seemingly rational reasons (because while we humans hold a lot of our opinions based on emotion and how it makes us feel, we don't want to admit it, instead we'll come up with seemingly rational reasons as if those reasons are the real reason we hold our opinion, because we want to believe we are being rational, bit if those seemingly rational reasons get knocked down, we'll go on holding the same opinion that we really hold for emotional reasons).

I'll go through these arguments and say why they aren't that great and point out that they tend to be held inconsistently and without adequate justification for the inconsistency.

As for "having something in common", the person always goes to working a job and paying bills. Why would that be important in a romantic relationship if one party has never experienced working a job or paying bills. What if a man meets a woman of similar age who's from a wealthy family so she's never worked a day in her life and has never personally paid a bill while he has worked for years and they like each other? Should they refrain from dating simply because one has never experienced the monotonous task of fighting through traffic to go somewhere you really don't want to be at to do some repetitive task for 8-10 hours because you need the money? But if a 35 year old working man was dating a 36 year old woman who never worked a day in her life, no one would say "you shouldn't date her because she's never had a job" but will say precisely that if a 35 year old man wants to date an 18 year old girl as if that matters or is a big deal and if it is, why doesn't it always apply and not just in 1 specific case of an older man/younger woman relationship? And who cares if one party has never personally paid a bill to the electric company for electricity. It's not a complex task and if any relationship is based on that, it's pretty much doomed to fail.

Being at the "same stage in life" is usually a euphemism for more of the above. Just having mundane, monotonous responsibilities of eeking out a living. Once again, if a 35 year old man was dating a woman his age or older who still lived at home, was still in school as an "art student", never worked a serious job then no one would bring that up as a reason why he shouldn't date her. But if he wants to date an 18 year old girl, suddenly these become legit reasons why he shouldn't date her over women his age. Also, what if he's dating an 18 year old who's been on her own and supporting herself since she was 16 and has more experience doing that than a sheltered 35 year old woman who's never worked in her life....would it be ok for the 35 year old man to date the 18 year old over the woman his age?

And no one has ever told me what exactly the brain not developing fully until 25 has to do with anything. It never seems to apply in any other context, strangely only when it comes to an older guy having a romantic/sexual relationship with a younger woman, then suddenly it's important. 18 year olds (and younger) can drive multi ton machines filled with flammable liquids where one wrong error or lapse in judgement can result in their death/serious injury and the death/serious injury of others, yet no one advocates for people not to drive until they're 25 since the brain isn't fully developed.

The same with joining the military. It can be a decision where the consequences can expose you to being killed, crippled or otherwise maimed pretty badly, not to mention serious mental scars like coming home with PTSD. Yet with so much on the line, I've never heard anyone say that 18 year olds shouldn't be allowed into military service because the brain doesn't fully develop until 25.

Where I live, you can become a police officer at 18 if you have a HS diploma. It can be a dangerous job, one in which you can be killed and no one says that 18 year olds brains aren't fully developed and they should have to wait until they're 25 and their brain is fully developed. In fact, according to USA Today, being a logging worker is the most dangerous job in the United States as measured by number of fatalities and is 38 times more dangerous than they typical job. I'd say if your brain needs to be fully developed for anything, it's to be a logger. Yet if an 18, 19 or 20 year old got into this dangerous profession, most of you wouldn't say "he shouldn't be a logger since the brain doesn't develop until 25".

Yet if a 35 year old man wanted to date/have sex an 18, 19, 20 year old and she wanted to date/have sex with him, suddenly you start screeching about the brain not developing until 25 when you literally apply that to no other situation except this specific one. Situations that are statistically much more dangerous. And in a typical dating/sexual relationship, the odds of anyone being killed or maimed are significantly lower than an 18 year old being in a fatal car wreck or a logger being killed on the job. In fact in most romantic/sexual relationships, no one will die or get seriously hurt.

And if she is with a man who brings with him a high risk of physical harm, she doesn't need to be with him regardless of his age. So if an 18 year old girl is with a same age guy or an older guy,if he's more dangerous to be with than it is to be a logger, she doesn't need to be with him.

Also, as far as "having something in common" most straight men have more in common with their same sex friends than they do with any woman. It doesn't mean that they should date or sleep with their male friends just because he may have more in common with them than he does a typical woman. That just doesn't follow.