The Sociology of Cougars

I'm not precisely sure why this is my third or fourth post on the cougar phenomenon, but I've finally stumbled upon an article in the NY Times this morning that offers a much deeper, social-scientific and demographically intelligent look at the issue.  Television and other forms of popular media, it seems, resemble a bunch of insecure cool kids, nervously poking, prodding and jesting at this or that aberration that makes them feel just a touch uncomfortable, just a touch less sure of themselves.  Beyond the pop-cultural smokescreen of Cougar-dome, we have a major shift in demographics, marriage patterns, and a rise in confident, educated and (perhaps newly) single women who are more likely to transcend boundaries not only of age, but of class, religion, and race.  


Sharon Caron, who has conducted studies on the phenomenon, notes that the days when women to defer to older, wealthier men for support--the old idea of a 'kept' woman--are coming to a close. And men are more comfortable with women as the higher wage-earner as well.  All of this stuff about demographic shifts and cultural enlightenment, however, is not going to pack a theater or boost the ratings.  Leave it to television to take progress and and isolate it as potentially pernicious peculiarity.