
Do Men on OKCupid Follow the Standard Creepiness Rule? - lejohnq
http://www.randalolson.com/2014/09/15/do-men-on-okcupid-follow-the-standard-creepiness-rule/
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dreamweapon
I've known many violators of this "rule", male and female, on both sides of
the equation. It's profoundly insulting to all parties concerned -- especially
those on the younger side, but well into adulthood (i.e. in their mid-20s or
above). Who presumably, according this "rule", must be too naive, or too
needy, to appreciate the fact that their older partners must be "creeps."

~~~
jasode
You're interpreting "rule" as some type of prescription. Such as " _it 's a
rule to not accept a date after Wednesday night, etc._"

That's not how it's used in "Creepiness Rule". In this case, "rule" is a
synonym for "heuristic" or a prevailing generalization[1].

But saying "Creepiness Heuristic" doesn't have that snappy and headline-
friendly sound to it that the "Creepiness Rule" does.

[1]See definition #2 at [http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/rule](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rule)

~~~
randallsquared
> That's not how it's used in "Creepiness Rule".

It is. It's supposed to be a guideline, not merely a descriptive statement.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_disparity_in_sexual_relatio...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_disparity_in_sexual_relationships#The_.22half-
your-age-plus-seven.22_rule)

~~~
icambron
From that link:

"...whether the age differences in their potential intimate relationships are
socially acceptable"

Sounds to me like a descriptive statement to me.

~~~
avmich
[http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908934.html](http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908934.html)

"The last-known Union widow, Gertrude Janeway, died in Jan. 2003 in Tennessee.
John Janeway joined the Union army in 1864 and was briefly a POW at
Andersonville. The couple married in 1927, after waiting three years until
Gertrude turned 18. John was 81.

The person thought to be the last-known Confederate widow, Alberta Martin, was
born Dec, 4, 1906, and died at age 97 in Alabama on May 31, 2004. In 1927, at
age 21, she married William Jasper Martin, then 81. Martin joined the
Confederate army in May 1864. Upon her husband's death, she married his
grandson from his first marriage."

Looks like Western culture standards aren't cast in stone. Or made in heaven.

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shalmanese
Those marriages were made to pass on pension benefits.

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crazypyro
Slightly offtopic, but I'm feeling a little ranty.

This whole idea that two adults cannot engage in a romantic relationship
without being unnecessarily harassed, based solely on their ages, is
ridiculous. Just because it makes you uncomfortable doesn't mean that the
people involved are uncomfortable, being taken advantage of, or naive. It just
means they have found apparent happiness in another human being. It's no one
else's business and judging others based on the age of their partner (assuming
both are consenting adults) should be stopped.

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CmonDev
Now we just need to establish what "adult" means. Which country's
interpretation at which point of time in history do you like the best?

~~~
mjevans
I'm not sure which country has it, but I'll generalize some criteria:

* Able to make rational decisions for one's self. * Successful co-operation with already existing 'adults'. * Able to produce surplus survival resources to enable successful raising of offspring.

By the above requirements I would suspect that if you removed an automatic
assumption of truth based on chronological age, that a majority of American
'adults' would fail at lease one item on the above list. In some cases it
really isn't their fault, but a fault of society failing to correct it's own
conditions.

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VLM
Note the mistake of assuming preference = requirement. The whole everything
that isn't forbidden is mandatory and everything that isn't mandatory is
forbidden.

So search for a woman within age range X to Y, but I have never in my life
carded a woman to make sure.

I might be wrong but the ancestry of the "rule" was some sort of statutory
rape disqualification. Follow that rule as an adult in (insert state here) and
it was a get out of jail free card for the guy even if the girl was
technically underage. To handle those annoying "he's 18 and one day while and
she's 17 and 11 months and 29 days old" situations. So technically you can't
consent till you're 18, but if one partner is 18 and the other is 18/2+7 aka
16 or older, its not illegal. Needless to say this is not legal advice and I
don't remember the state and it once being true in AL in 1920 doesn't mean its
true today, anyway.

(and I'm getting downvoted. thanks guys. My point isn't that its great not to
prosecute rapists or make a statement about some weird moral/ethical
perspective on dating younger women or that I totally confused the article
with some legal debate, but to point out that AFAIK this "common sense math
formula" originally came from a statutory rape law in the American south
decades ago, and thats the answer to the debate on HN of "where did this
supposedly well known law come from that no one knows the source of" Perhaps
given this as a start someone who knows the history of those laws, perhaps in
the south, could confirm the details? I'm not asking you to agree with it, or
promoting its reinstatement, just stating its history)

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analyst74
Those OKCupid statics are really useful, they help you understand what's
commonly expected, e.g. if you date outside the commonly accepted age range,
you might face additional challenge than others. That is useful information to
have, so you can be prepared for such challenges.

But for gods sake, use that information to your advantage, not handy-cap your
own mind, same as how you should use any other kinds of knowledge.

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sopooneo
Why is the bottom of the green area jagged, but the top smooth?

