Harold and Maude in Real Life

Everyone’s always talking about MILF this and Cougar that, but did you know that a GILF (grandmother I’d like… ) is not just a hilarious joke, it’s also a real thing? Slate has an interesting rundown of the phenomenon, which is technically called gerontophilia. These folks find themselves lusting after old, like truly elderly, people:

“Gerontophiles are perhaps better thought of as being closer to necrophiles than cougar-hunters. The same applies for women (or men) who prefer old men as partners: While a conventional “silver fox” in his 40s or 50s may be a bit long in the tooth, true gerontophiles are more likely to find themselves with someone who has no teeth.”

Well, to each his own! And this lifestyle does have it’s perks; since the market for eligible olds is almost completely untapped (rim shot!) there’s no shortage of available sexual partners. But there are some downsides to being with a more aged companion. As one gerontophile on Reddit admitted.

“So far as worrying about injuring them, I do worry. Very much so. For that reason I usually let her lead the way, I figure she knows her limitations better than I do. But obviously I don’t toss any woman I’m with around like a rag doll. As fun as that might be if she’s into it, a broken hip would put a downer on things.”

Indeed, it’s all fun and games until somebody’s fallen and cannot get up! So why aren’t we hearing about this all the time? Mostly because there don’t seem to be very many of these folks — or maybe there are but they just aren’t noticeable because they’re not doing anything illegal and they probably aren’t bragging to their friends? Either way, let’s hope that this doesn’t catch on as the hot new topic for entertainment because otherwise we’re all going to be tuning in to a show that centers around a group of hot young people who lounge around in nursing homes picking up silver foxes and banging gorgeous grannies.