We’ve
all been on one side of the forbidden-fruit fantasy, whether as the object or
subject, but what is it about the limits imposed by marriage that makes the
seduction even more alluring? David
Amsden takes on his accidental, repeated sexual experiences as the other man
in the married woman/cougar fantasy, deconstructing his decisions and mistakes
for all of us to see.
Our clichéd, juvenile fantasy of getting with older
women — propagated, no doubt, by those damn Pepsi ads in which a tank-topped
Cindy Crawford maliciously teased two prepubescent boys — had eventually
transmuted into an acute desire to get with married women. We talked about it
constantly. Bounced it around in our overeager minds, picked it apart: The
mysteries inherent in the age difference. The things that we, who knew nothing,
would learn. The prohibited wants and concealed vulnerabilities, a simmering
component to any committed relationship, magnified by marriage, finally going
berserk. What could be better?
His ultimate conclusion is witty and, to my mind, sort of
surprising – here’s to
you, Mrs. Robinson.
— Caitlin M.
