Trend or Fad

Are we seeing the Demi Moore effect? According to a study done in April, 2007, by the dating site PlentyofFish.com (POF), there's a surge, not the one in Iraq, but the surge of women age 30 and over who are seeking men 5 to 10 years younger. Are the cougars taking over the jungle? In the U.S., according to Markus Frind, founder of POF, 38 % of the women surveyed had initiated contact with men 5 years younger than themselves and 10% were going for men 10 years younger.
I posted a thread on A Small World asking whether women with younger men was a trend or a fad. The response was unanimously in favor of a trend. "It's not a bohemian practice with my single female friends in their 40's and early 50's," said one female responder. "It's essential. Men of our own age frequently come with all kinds of baggage, emotional, kids, financial obligations, and a little too much cynicism."
One European man's response: "While women often fuss and fret over aging, a cool, confident guy simply doesn't care. In older women, the physical and the intellectual combine to a genuinely sexy effect. Perhaps this is why the Europeans and not the eternally teenage Americans--with the exception of the occasional Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Hutton--age so much more proudly and gracefully. Though a youth-fixated culture tells more mature women they have lost their sex appeal, that is so untrue. Womanly is sexy--at least to me it is."
Another man, 36, said, "I have no intention of waxing lyrical over wrinkles and sagging tits. But these days, women look fantastic for a lot longer. Men look for the big picture, assuming it's not gargantuan. We don't see a few extra lines or a little more cellulite. We see smart, sassy, stunning women who turn us on."