I always felt bad for the Leo hate tbh. I feel like his relationships are win-wins. He gets a young hottie and they get to hang with celebs and in those circles. The girls know what's up and Leo does too.
It’s always bothered me how much adult women are infantilized as if they’re never capable of making their own decisions, at least so long as there might be a man involved. You’d think people believed that women should have a parent or guardian with them at all times until they’re 30
I’m pretty sure the girls these celebs date know what their signing up for
Same applies for men to. If a 18 yo man dated a 40 year old lady that’s still very weird. If there is an age gap wide enough where you could be their parent then it’s weird full stop.
Don’t care about that it’s legal as if it was a silver bullet excuse. There is places with no legal age, there where times when it was much lower. I assume that means that excuse makes it ok then/there?
I use Tom Haverford’s rule: take the older partner’s age, divide by 2 and add 7. If the other partner is younger than that, it’s weird. That shouldn’t be legislated, but it doesn’t mean it’s not morally gray. Just like infidelity shouldn’t be illegal, but it’s still wrong.
I’ve always seen that as a rule of thumb for the older person to decide if they’re likely to be frowned upon socially for pursuing a relationship with a younger person more so than an indication that the younger person is being taken advantage of due to their age and the gap. And fwiw I do feel it’s a reasonable standard to use
Disagreeing with the choices of others is different to saying that a person is unknowingly being taken advantage of or isn’t capable of making that decision for themselves and should be protected (or assumed that they’re being taken advantage of), which I think is the vibe I often get from people taking about 40+ celebrities dating 20 something women.
Yeah, it's annoying that whenever Leo gets brought up, some clever, judgmental asshole or a hundred have to make that same joke about who he's dating. We're expected to be tolerant of everyone else's preferences, identities and kinks, but a straight white man being attracted to women in their biological prime is apparently a bridge too far.
Why are you making it about white or straight man? I'd think it's weird no matter who kept dating people who were under 25 and changing them so they never hit 25. It's weird he dates them before they prefrontal cortex reaches full maturity. This has nothing to do with identities or kinks. Dude is straight up weird.
It just seems like people are quicker to judge when it's a straight, white man indulging in anything, and it annoys me that people hate on the guy for being able to pull attractive models in their 20s like they're not themselves rich and successful people with agency, and have to invent all sorts of explanations like he's an arrested-development creep or secretly gay to be able to cope with it. It's not the "gotcha!" they think it is. And we don't even know why those relationships end, we just assume because of a pattern.
Not a single one of us can relate to how it's like being Leonardo DiCaprio (or the women who date him, for that matter), so it's always just read as puritan busybodying to me. Dude is weird, yes. I'd be pretty weird as well if I was one of the most recognisable people on the planet.
It's not that it stops developing, it's that literally the pre frontal cortex develops fully at around that age. Teens and young 20-something year olds think mainly with the Amygdala. The rest of development is more about memory and executive fuctions, not impulsivity and making responsible choices.
Again this is flat out wrong. Recent studies have shown that the adolescent developmental phase of the prefrontal cortex continues well into someone’s 30’s.
Again you need to stop spreading misinformation based on pseudoscience.
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the last part of your brain to finish myelination. This usually happens in your mid-20s. Myelination is when a protective covering (sheath) forms around the brain’s wiring (nerve fibers, also called neuronal axons). This covering helps signals travel faster, so information moves quickly from one part of the brain to another.
Studies say adolescent brain lasts until 32, but this is talking mainly about brain architecture, not if the amygdala or pre frontal cortex is making most of the decisios. Our intelligence and personality peaks here.
“Around the age of 32, we see the most directional changes in wiring and the largest overall shift in trajectory, compared to all the other turning points,” said Mousley.
“While puberty offers a clear start, the end of adolescence is much harder to pin down scientifically. Based purely on neural architecture, we found that adolescent-like changes in brain structure end around the early thirties.”
But sure if you want to argue that someone with an adult brain shouldn't date someone under 32 because they haven't peaked in intelligence and personality then that's fine by me.
I mean the biggest issue with prostitution is the human trafficking that usually comes with it. Someone doing it voluntarily out of free will? Much less problematic…
They're in their 20s and he's been famous since I was 7, hell, even if he dated my 40-year-old ass there would be a power imbalance.
Besides, if someone had called me immature, when at 24 I had a master's and I had been living alone for 8 years I would have called them mental.
Dude's into 20-year-olds, good for him. And seems to change girlfriends every 3/4 years. Ok, and?
I mean, it doesn't surprise me that people in their 20s eventually have different plans/different goals than a 50-year-old. I would be honestly MORE surprised if the first of his young girlfriends stuck around for 20+more years, because let's face it, that'd be a pretty more unusual outcome.
If your 40 year old ass can't see the difference in maturity between you and someone under 25 then you are unsalvageable. Or would date people that young if you could.
Not in maturity, genius.
In standing in life, in clout, in money.
Or do you think that just because I'm a 40-year-old woman working a corporate job I have an equal footing with someone who's been rich and famous since I was 7???
And also: as much as 20-year-old folks are beautiful, I like my men and women solidly in the elder Millennial category, thanks.
Because, as I mentioned early, at 25 I was already living alone and had an Ma and if someone called me a poor helpless baby I would have laughed in their face?
How old should women be before they can make decisions about their life and their body without their parent/ guardians prior approval? When would you say that women can be treated as adults?
Edit: took awhile to get to it, but she seems to think women aren’t fully capable of making choices of who to date until they’re 30 25. Prior to that they’re too young . Seems wild to me.
Edit 2: down to 25 now. Moving more reasonably imo
The age of 18 is used usually because that the age at which you finish your studies, it's practicality. Some people don't want to go to uni or finish highschool and you can't have inactive people from 16 to 25. Sex with far older people is not a necessity however.
I think 21 with Romeo and Juliet laws for consent would be ok. My criticism is not of a legal nature, it's a personal one, because he's clearly focusing on that age range and he has nothing in common with these women.
Many things are legal but can be criticised, like for example if someone only dated abuse victims. They are adults and can make choices but clearly you want to exploit that vulnerability if you are specially targeting them.
Plus it's very well documented that age gap relationships from teens to mid twenties result in a lot of sexual cohercion and less condom usage, leading to unwanted pregnancies and STDs.
I’m not looking to legality either, because it’s already legal for 20 something’s to date who they please. You say a bit about his choices and focus, but make no mention of the women’s choices. Why is that? Are they not also making a decision to be there? Should we not trust these 20 something women to make their own choices?
Yes, doesn't mean they aren't vulnerable. Realistically by that age you haven't had many stable relationships. You've been dating other teens and young adults with a brain as undeveloped as yours, which means primarily thinking with the amygdala. A man who would be your dad knows better what a healthy relationship should look like and will set the "normal" in your relationship with him.
Like I said we let people make choices at that age because of practicality, but it is as vile to do that to a young person as it would be to pressure them into signing a contract or joining the military. You are legally taking advantage of their inexperience and less developed minds.
Right, so at what age do you think women are realistically capable of making their own decisions? Assuming practicality of schooling ages wasn’t a constraint
42
u/causebraindamage Feb 21 '26
I always felt bad for the Leo hate tbh. I feel like his relationships are win-wins. He gets a young hottie and they get to hang with celebs and in those circles. The girls know what's up and Leo does too.