Take Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great and Mae West. Feminists initially embraced the idea of cougarism, seeing it not so much as a craze as an overdue rebuke to the "senior man, junior woman" template, which, it went without saying, was an imposition of the prevailing sexual tyranny.Soon, cougar empowerment was big business, with books such as Hot Cougar Sex and Don't Call Me Ma'am!Dating a younger guy isn’t weird because he’s younger – it’s weird because of the way society makes you feel about it. There’s nothing you can do but just look at them and wonder how their thought process works. The 10 worst moments in any relationship Follow Gurl, pretty please!I mean, sure, there are some things that are different about dating someone who isn’t your age, but for the most part it’s really not that big of a deal. The most common reaction to the age difference is total shock, followed by the question “But how did you meet? Sometimes when you’re with him and all of his friends, you might feel a little out of place. You learn that people are rude enough to ask questions like, “But why would you date someone younger than you? the series focuses on a recently divorced woman in her 40s facing the often humorous challenges, pitfalls, and rewards of life's next chapter, along with her teenage son, her ex-husband, and her wine-loving The show was created by Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel and was produced by Doozer and Coquette Productions in association with ABC Studios.Filming took place at Culver Studios in Culver City, California.The rules of engagement are getting tougher for the Cougars – those women of a certain age who prowl the urban habitat, sinking their varnished claws into conspicuously younger men.A scientific study, published last week, warned that such females face a lower life expectancy, although the big surprise is that any research was necessary. Yet things had started out so hopefully for this shiny new social demographic.

If she can skim through your profile in under a minute, know all of your most attractive traits, and want to know more you have been successful.

As the novelist Kathy Lette puts it, with characteristic delicacy: "Nineteen goes into 50 a hell of a lot better than 50 goes into 19." This partly explains why the young Rod Stewart could sing about his initiation at the hands of the experienced Maggie May ("All I needed was a friend to lend a helping hand / But you turned into a lover, and mother what a lover, you wore me out").

There was even convincing evidence that cougarism was spilling over into wider society.

Cougar Town is an American television sitcom that ran for 102 episodes over six seasons, from September 23, 2009 until March 31, 2015.

The first three seasons aired on ABC, with the series moving to TBS for the final three seasons.