Posted by Tana Ganeva
Need a reminder of the sexist double standards that pervade every aspect of our culture? Here you go! (via Huffington Post):
CougarLife, a dating website for women “looking to catch younger men,” has accused Google of sexism, claiming that the company deemed its web ads “non-family safe,” while condoning as “family-safe” Internet ads for “sugar daddy-type” sites.
According to CougarLife’s founder Claudia Opdenkelder, a Google account manager toldher that promoting liaisons between older women and younger men was “unsafe for family audiences, even if the ads contain no sexually suggestive words or images”–while sites aimed at connecting older men with younger women received no such restrictions.
Well, how else will middle-aged rich guys access the young women to whom they’re entitled? Meanwhile, everyone knows that there’s nothing less enticing than a woman past the age of 30 — even the one featured in the Cougar Life ad, who actually look like a 25-year-old model. Mayyyybe she’s 30. Gross.
A Google ad rep dismissed the allegations, saying that it’s not just the content of the ads that are taken into consideration but the landing page of the site as well. This strategy backfired because most people are capable of looking at websites on the Internet: as Mashable pointed out after reviewing CougarLife, the creepy Sugar Daddy websites feature way seedier language:
… SeekingArrangement is considered family-safe by Google but is totally sleazy by other standards. Copy on its landing page reads, “Sugar Babes are college students, aspiring actresses or someone just starting out. You seek a generous benefactor to pamper, mentor and take care of you — perhaps to help you financially?”
The site goes on to describe a mutually beneficial relationship as “a relationship between an older and wealthy individual who gives a young person expensive gifts or financial assistance in return for friendship or intimacy.” Inviting young people to walk the fine and blurry line between sex-related leeching and bald prostitution is safe for families?
And since “family” is a euphemism for “children,” let’s make the distinction even clearer: Would you rather have your kids know that mature ladies can be desirable to cute young guys, or that college girls can get their bills paid by having sexual relationships with older men? One message seems fairly sex-positive, and the other just creepy.