Similarly, I was def a dumb ass as a ~23 year old. And I am consistently impressed with my co-worker s at that age. Despite thinking their lingo is dumb, I do they they’ve got their heads on straight in a really good way.

Yeah, all those are really good points.

I def have a knee-jerk reaction when I see early 20’s friends (let’s be real: female friends) dating middle aged folks (again, being real, middle aged males) to be wary about the relationship. But intellectually, the conclusion I come to is that its fine.

I do specifically agree that the other people focusing on an age based power imbalance feels like they’d also be calling for you to only date in your income bracket, and then also to only date someone who’s as physically fit as you, which then leads to well you should only date someone of your race and/or ethnicity.

Something, something, slippery slope argument. But it is logically comparable.

Other commenter s keep going on about a power gap and how easy it is to manipulate younger folks.

Yo, I don’t know what early 20’s people y’all interact with, but upwards of 50+% of the people I work with are 21-26 and gonna say this is patently false. Labeling them all as easily manipulatable or saying they lack the means to make ends meet feels like some kind of paternalistic ageism.

These young whipper snappers might be annoying with their mog maxxing and 6-7s and shit, but they’re also whole ass adults.

Def misread it on first pass. Thanks for straightening me out.

Yeah, OP did not do a good job with this one.