Because women are extremely open to dating men 2-8 years older that means a 22 year old woman generally has a dating pool of men aged 21-30.

Men, on the other hand, prefer their partners to be younger and are very averse to dating older women. So that means the dating pool for a 22 year old man is generally women aged 19-24.

The age range young women are willing to date is around 2x wider.

There are other factors that make dating more difficult for young men but it’s silly to pretend that the difference in desirable age ranges of dating isn’t a big factor.

Also consider that younger women are more likely to occupy higher percentiles of desirability within their gender and young men are more likely to occupy lower percentiles of desirability within their gender. This is another reason why these age restrictions matter so much. If young men were willing to date women in the bottom percentiles of desirability (overweight, older), they would have less difficulty but they only try to attract women their age or younger.

This explains why dating outcomes get more even as men get older. As men age, say from 22 to 28, their desirable age range grows and they become more desirable themselves, giving them more options.

This is also important to understand when it comes to discussions about differences in pickiness between men and women. People online will constantly harp on the fact that young women are selective about height and status, totally glossing over the fact that young men are far more selective on age and incidentally choosing to only go after the most desirable demographic of women.

Data: https://medium.com/@okcupid/the-case-for-an-older-woman-99d8cabacdf5