Call me a cougar and I’ll get my luger…
A confession: I hate cougars. I hate the word “cougar.” I hate the concept of cougars. I hate the new show “The Cougar.”
This does not mean that I hate the solitary wild cat who feasts on deer, elk and sometimes armadillos, in regions across North and South America. Nor does it mean that I hate women who have sex with younger men. What I hate is the never-ending cutesy-pie conflation of the two.
Enthusiasm for the word “cougars” as applied to women, and not simply to high school football teams or John Mellencamp, seems to have begun around the millennium, with the 2001 publication of “Cougar: A Guide for Older Women Dating Younger Men,” by Valerie Gibson. But the term caught fire in 2005, fueled by the marriage that year of then-42-year-old Demi Moore to then-27-year-old Ashton Kutcher.
Four years later we are still awash in knee-slapping, claw-bearing, never-gets-old cougar mania! Rowr!
In addition to the reality show “The Cougar,” which premieres Wednesday on TV Land, Courteney Cox-Arquette has produced and stars in a pilot for an ABC sitcom called “Cougar Town.” The independent film “Cougar Hunting,” a comedy about young men chasing older women, was prevented from shooting at the Aspen courthouse because it was deemed too racy. “Cougar: A Guide for Older Women Dating Younger Men,” was reissued in 2008, and has been joined on shelves by titles like “Cougars, Poptarts & One Night Stands: 101 Essential Wingman Tips” and “Hot Cougar Sex: Steamy Encounters With Younger Men.” There are cougar hunters. There are cougar Web sites. There is a recurring “Saturday Night Live” skit called “Cougar Den” — which always seems to star Cameron Diaz, whether or not she’s the host — in which hilariously menopausal but libidinous women act like ninnies in pursuit of Zac Efron, the Jonas Brothers and youth itself. There are also self-proclaimed professional cougars, women who are apparently just “smart, sexy, independent … and proud to be over 40,” whether or not they’re jumping over couches to grab crotches.
By Rebecca Traister read the rest on http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2009/04/15/cougars_madness
March 15th, 2010 at 16:40
[...] call me a Cougar‘. I literally laughed out loud at the post title that greeted me – ‘Call me a Cougar, and I’ll get my Luger’! Rebecca Traister, the article’s author, is woman after my own heart! It’s great to know [...]
April 9th, 2010 at 13:11
[...] call me a Cougar‘. I literally laughed out loud at the post title that greeted me – ‘Call me a Cougar, and I’ll get my Luger’! Rebecca Traister, the article’s author, is woman after my own heart! It’s great to know [...]