What Age Range is Acceptable for a Woman?

I came across a good blog post that Ferns, a dominant woman in her 40s, wrote about the age range she'd accept in a relationship.  I thought it was interesting since she said the men in her life have been 5-6 years younger (with some exceptions of much younger and much older) and that's been true with me as well, I started thinking about how our constructed ideas of age are related to our ideas of who is dominant in a relationship more than who is male.

Most heterosexual couples tend to be male dominant/female submissive, even if the people don't identify in those terms.  And, most of the time, the men are older - sometimes only by a few years, especially if they met when they were in high school or college but the average difference in the US for first marriages is 4 years.  Also, I've noticed that most women in their 30s don't like to date (much) younger men, possibly because older men generally can offer more financial stability and many women in their 30s are hoping to settle down and start a family pretty quickly.

I have also noticed from my observations in the BDSM community that there are much more older women/younger men in relationships than in the general public and the woman was the dominant in all the couples I've met.  I think one of the reasons that vanilla men and dominant women prefer (or are more open to) younger partners is that the older partner often is wiser, more experienced, more established in their careers and generally better suited to "lead" the relationship.  That might be why vanilla men prefer younger wives - more easily controlled because they are more dependent financially. I've also noticed much larger age gaps among male doms but I think it's because men are just more superficial.  If I were 50 and could get an 18 year old, I might, too!  ;)

I didn't feel superior to my previous ex-boyfriends even though they were younger but I'm atypical in some of my life choices that make me more similar to someone in her late 20s.  I also look much younger, which is why a lot of younger men approach me, thinking I'm around their age.  Despite this (or maybe because of this?), men over 40 often feel challenged by me and want to challenge my authority one person (let's call him Wine Collector) was absolutely wrong about a wine, refused to acknowledge it even in the face of contradictory proof, then emailed me sheepishly the next day about his "dissonance" and "male ego").  Men my age and younger tend to be much more open with me about their lack of knowledge or understanding about something and I suspect this has to do with increasing feminism in our culture.

I did find that my experience dating older (40+) men to be worse, since the older they were, the more rigid in their thinking they tended to be. Perhaps 15 years was enough to make a difference but among vanilla or slightly submissive men, someone in his early thirties is much more willing to give up control and authority compared to someone in his mid to late 40s.  I still find older men attractive, especially if they stay fit, eat well, and use sunscreen liberally, but I'm a little more hesitant to give them a chance if they haven't had real-life D/s experience.