This tidy morsel was too delicious to pass up. Martha goes Match. Yes, that’s Martha Stewart and… you got it… Match.com.
Don’t you love it? A little romance in the air for the month of May!
I do not come to mock her. On the contrary, I am singing her praises for taking the plunge even if it started as a bit of a joke, or at the nudge of Today Show’s Matt Lauer, all in good fun. The 71-year-old entrepreneurial icon is reportedly sticking a toe in the online dating waters “in the spirit of adventure.”
In a clip I saw on television, Matt Lauer was asking Martha about the sort of man she was looking for. When it came to expressing her preferences, I had to smile at her approach. She added “ish” to her adjectives, which suggests to me that she’s not taking the sort of hard line that spells problems for all of us in the dating world.
Martha’s Match?
Care for examples of Martha’s open-mindedness?
She said she wanted a man who was “young-ish” but wouldn’t specify what that meant. Further qualification indicated that she wants a man with energy.
She also said “tall-ish” – and I say good for her. You know how I feel about that Tall Guy prejudice, admitting that I’m recently a convert.
When Matt asked whether her dates had to be successful, one can only assume he would have to hold his own to some degree. (Really, Matt. What kind of a question is that?)
For more on this story, check out Vanity Fair, reporting that Lauer peer-pressured her into it. The article also claims to have discovered what “might” be her profile.
Senior Sites for Online Dating
Just how prevalent is online dating among the no longer nubile set? Poking around the Internet, I tried to come up with a number, but couldn’t zero in on one. Still curious, I found NPR reporting on AARP’s online dating venture. Given a ready-made market (roughly 37 million AARP members), that seems like an excellent fit.
More inquiries turned up the top 5 online dating sites for seniors, according to consumer rankings. The names will be familiar – Match, eHarmony, Chemistry, Zoosk. These four are online dating venues that cross demographics as a general rule. Only one, Our Time, is specifically geared to the 50+ crowd.
Of course, I scratch my head at 50 being included in a “senior” designation, as one who isn’t thrilled with labels in any realm. Speaking purely for myself (and possibly for my friends), as a single woman who wants a dating life, 50 or 55 is a far cry from 70-something – if for no other reason than the fact that in our 50s we may still be parenting, we may be newly immersed in a second (or third or fourth) career, and our lifestyles – along with our ideal choice in mate – reflect a different stage from someone 10+ years older.
Dating at 50+
I make the above statements fully aware that many 70 year old men would seek 50-something aged women. No doubt this plays into the demographic factors of a site that positions itself as “seniors” with the approximate age floor set at 50.
In my own online dating forays over the years – the good, the bad, and the wacky – 50-year old men were slim pickings! As for men in their 60s and 70s, I occasionally bumped into a few, and dated some men a decade or more older, though found my sweet spot at 5+ years younger.
As for Martha and her tallish, youngish, energetic possible match? What tickles me most is seeing a dynamic, successful woman of 71 willing to give this a shot.
Would you – at any age? Would you recommend online dating to your sixty-something or seventy-something year old mother or father? Your grandmother or grandfather? Would you go the specialized “over 50” route, or try a mainstream site like Match?
Thumbnail of Wiki Image, Wiki, David Shankbone (2011), via Creative Commons 3.0 License.
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When I first read this I thought, “you go girl!” But when you pose the question of whether I’d recommend a dating site to my mother/father or grandmother/father, I have to admit my lip curled a bit. It will be interesting to see if Martha shares her forays into cyber-matching, and I think I may pity the man that is the topic of that conversation!!
Somehow I think she won’t kiss and tell, but… I bet she would have some great first date stories!
First, I can’t believe Martha Stewart is 71-years-old. Second, I don’t think you are ever too old for romance and companionship. Third, I bet it is difficult for a powerful woman to meet men willing to ask her out – a little intimidating.
I don’t expect Martha to kiss and tell, but if she does have some good stories, I hope she shares them (no names mentioned). I wish her luck!
Almost makes me want to fire up my old Match.com ad again……nah, I know better. 🙂 Doesn’t work for everyone. More power to her, though, and anyone who does.
Like Robin said, I can’t believe Martha Stewart is actually 71. I just read an article by her yesterday pulled into the headlines at Linked In – “Why it’s never too late to launch a new career.” She is definitely inspirational, no matter what her age.
Certainly inspirational, Gwen, I agree!
I’m the contrarian. I say no to online dating. For more reasons than I have time to list.
But good for Martha. I wish I could see how she advertises herself on Match. I suspect it wouldn’t
be a window into her soul. Just the act of writing a dating profile is an interesting exercise; it’s
sort of like the six-word memoir but with a sell-through. I’d add to your list of potential dating
site the personals column of the New York Review of Books. All the women sound wonderful and
kinda the same but I know at least two who have met their husband here on the highly
competitive island of Manhattan through NYRB.
Delighted you stopped by, carrie. The New York Review of Books? Really? What a smart idea. I would never have thought…
As for Martha’s possible profile, if you pop over to the Vanity Fair article, they excerpt a profile they found which they think may be hers… Who knows. I say good for her simply for expressing that she’d like a relationship. That in itself is refreshing, don’t you think?
My Mom met her phenomenal fiancée online when she was…64. And it is True Love. 🙂
Good for her. What has age got to do with it. I met my second husband through a dating agency at age 50. We married when I was 52 (he is a couple of years younger) and are still very happily together.
OMG, I could write a very very very funny book on all this. A series of vignettes, all about an older woman’s adventures into on-line dating. I believe you need to actually write this for me, Wolfie. And, last night on Jimmy Kimmel they chose her match, too funny. She has moxie, doesn’t she? Love it!
Chuckling, Marsha… Moxie, yes!
Good for her and funny. It’s a good thing.
Re your statement: “50 or 55 is a far cry from 70-something – if for no other reason than the fact that in our 50s we may still be parenting, we may be newly immersed in a second (or third or fourth) career, and our lifestyles – along with our ideal choice in mate – reflect a different stage from someone 10+ years older.” While that statement was probably generally accurate ten or more years ago, I wonder whether that is still the case. Many of the people I know who are in their 60’s are still very actively parenting and are newly immersed in a second, third or fourth career, and most of them definitely are not engaged in a retirement or even pre-retirement lifestyle. On the other hand, more than several of the people I know who are in their 50’s are no longer actively parenting and are firmly ensconced in a retirement, or pre-retirement, mindset. What it means, or feels like, to be any age between about 50 and 70 seems to be more amorphous, and less amenable to generalization, than ever. Or does it just seem that way because I’m now in the middle of that age group?
You raise excellent points, Leslie. All the more reason that chronological age shouldn’t be such an obstacle when we meet to date or pursue relationships.