Tom made the decision to pull the plug, Ana wasn’t up to his standards: Tom is looking for someone with more charisma and life experience Article by Rain Fall Edited By Vivek Singh

There remains a hypocrisy in Western media which still undermines feminism; that being a hypocrisy of the age gap. This hypocrisy not only reflects the double standard in the dating life of heterosexual men and women, but also highlights a fundamental flaw of modern-day feminism: that its targets are often women as well as men. This article will explore this hypocrisy, with a specific focus on Ana De Armas. The examples given will be from social media outlets, in order to present a common opinion from the public.

Ana De Armas and Tom Cruise had a 26-year age difference when they maintained a relationship. This face mixed reactions from the public, with one Twitter user claiming, “Did someone forget to tell Tom the rule is half your age plus 7?”. This is an age-old ‘rule’ – one that has as little logic to it as it does truth. Moreover, though, this ‘rule’ presents the truly sick underlying focus of these people’s beliefs. It is within their interests to age people down in order to show “when Tom was 25 years old, Ana hadn’t been born yet” (as stated by another Twitter user). The logic of knocking 38 years off of somebody’s life to try and prove a point is utterly ridiculous.

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Furthermore, this kind of logic presents another sickening implication. It is the root of their arguments to infantilise fully grown adults; to imagine that one is just a baby, or not even born, in order to prove their ‘point’. The ‘babying’ of these celebrities can also contribute to bizarre para-social relationships, in which the average person believes themselves to know or to be in relation with a public figure. By infantilising them, they are also making the image seem rightfully shocking, but all shock and horror vanishes when it is realised that their supposed image is really not the reality of the situation. Falling for this logic is not unlike when conservatives create a mirage in their minds to get angry about.

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On the other hand, age gap apologists sometimes lend themselves to gross objectification. In response to the relationship, one Twitter user noted that “if he is in shape, I see nothing wrong with this,” which highlights the objectification of a romantic relationship. In a word, the body becomes the focus of the public, and not the mind or soul. It is within the person’s body in which their worth and value is measured. Of course, the same standard goes for De Armas, who has most commonly come to be known for her n*de scenes. Her seminal performance in the movie Blonde is talked about most in relation to the times she was n*ked in it. Again, both people in the relationship have had their bodies as the focus of their public appearance, whether within or out of the relationship.

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Madonna is another celebrity who had a notable age gap in a relationship, with her and Akeem Morris having an approximate 37 year age difference. The public reactions to this have been very mixed. Some have praised Madonna for ‘breaking the norms’ while others have perceived him as nothing more than a ‘boy-toy’. Either way, one thing remains clear: that the perception of Morris in the relationship has a direct correlation with the perception of his body, whereas the perception of Madonna is more centred around the spiritualistic and sociological ‘norms’ of society. Clear to see is the relation between Akeem and Cruise; gone is the ‘rule’ of plus or minus seven. This presents the double standard.

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What this double standard does for feminism, however, is conflicting. On the one hand, it allows room for women to denounce negative social expectations of them, but this itself becomes a double negative when that comes at the cost of following the lesser favoured trends of men; and in this case, a double negative is certainly not a positive. On the other hand, it shows that women are also susceptible to questionable relationship patterns like men, and this allows feminists to critique the gender differences with a new light on how ugly societal flaws can be prevalent across both genders.

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