Cougar Life Review – Find Cougars and Cubs in Your Area
Cougar Life is a dating site that let’s older women (“cougars”, usually 35 or older) meet “cubs”, men in their twenties or thirties. The site was started in February 2009 by Claudia Opdenkelder, a self-identified cougar, who started the site as a place for “Women in their PRIME: independent, sexy and wildly successful” who want to find a young man who is a full of energy as they are.
The term cougar has had a negative connotation for many years, but Opdenkelder and the women on this site are trying to take away the image of a run-down old woman trolling the bars, and “…make it about a 35-and-older, sophisticated, successful woman who knows what she wants, knows how to get it, doesn’t need a man to get it for her, and enjoys the company of a younger man.” The stigma of an older woman dating a younger woman is slowly going away, thanks in part to sites like this.
You can sign up for 3 months at a time, at $29 a month, or pay month by month, at $40 a time. This is a bit more expensive than other dating sites, but when you are looking for someone specific, you should expect to pay a little bit more.
At 21, I don’t quite fit into the cougar age range, but I decided to sign up for a guest account to see how easy the process is. Sign-up is quick and simple, and the site is really easy to navigate. I made two accounts, one looking for cougars, and one looking for cubs, to see what type of people are on the site.
There seemed to be the typical selection of young men. Several pics of headless, muscular torsos, taken by camera phones in bathroom mirrors. Lots of blurry pics from webcams. But some of the men on the site seemed very sincere and sweet. Most men on this site don’t come of as creepy or desperate, just men who liked the company of a more experienced woman. The woman on the site were … surprisingly hot. Though strangely, there seemed to be fewer women than men. I expected it to be the other way around, but according to statistics, there are 52% men to 48% women.
Though it is hard to tell how many of those profiles are spam. Like any dating site, there are a lot of spam profiles, but they are fairly easy to weed out based on which ones have filled out their ‘About Me’ section. If they haven’t taken the time to write anything, they probably aren’t a real user.
The questions to fill out in the ‘About Me’ section have a distinctively flirty, playful feel, trying to play up the sexy older woman aspect, I assume. Questions include “What is your favorite roleplay fantasy?”, “What do you hope to teach the sexy younger man in your life?” and “What 3 activities outside the bedroom give you the most pleasure and why?” Though some of the questions were very deep and insightful, such as “What have you achieved that you are most proud of?”
One thing I thought was interesting was that on the mens’ profiles, there is a place to enter your education, occupation, and salary. The womens’ profile only has a spot for education. It seems to me that if this site is trying to cater to an “older … successful woman who knows what she wants, knows how to get it, [and] doesn’t need a man to get it for her”, she probably has a career that she is proud of. I feel the site should let her show that side of herself.
The privacy settings allow you to hide your profile from searches, and to block certain profiles. One interesting feature lets you set up a photo album that can only be accessed by invitation. This way you can put up some gorgeous pics of yourself without worrying about everyone being able to get ahold of them.
One thing that would improve the site, would be a chat feature. For the amount you are paying each month, it seems like that would be a very simple feature to implement. The FAQ section has advice about how to meet someone safely, which I think is very important, especially on a site like this. Just because the woman is older and more experienced doesn’t mean they are safe. Even if you are older, you still need to be careful. If is important to be smart when meeting someone from online. Tell a friend where you’ll be, and meet somewhere public.
Bottom line: If you are interested in finding a younger man or an older woman, whether for something casual or a more serious relationship, this site is worth checking out.