Third of single women do a Demi by dating toyboys, study shows

FOLLOWING in the footsteps of Madonna and Demi Moore, nearly a third of single women in America are stepping out with younger men, a survey showed yesterday.

Middle-aged women across the US are brushing aside the stigma and increasingly opting for toyboys, the study found. The findings, in a forthcoming edition of AARP, The Magazine, comes as part of one of the biggest studies into the love lives of middle-aged singles in the US.

"There seems to be no stigma now for dating men a few years younger," said Steve Slon, editor of the magazine which is pitched at over 50s.

"Twenty years ago, women didn't have the jobs. Today they have the jobs, they have the money, they can call the shots."

A rash of other celebrities have also developed a keen eye for younger men recently. Hollywood star Moore, 40, is dating 25-year-old Ashton Kutcher. Madonna, 45, is married to film director Guy Ritchie, 10 years her junior.

And Charlie's Angel's star Cameron Diaz, 31, is dating Justin Timberlake, the 22-year-old singer and ex-boyfriend of Britney Spears.

The survey reported six-in-10 singles aged between 40 and 69 are women, and most of them are divorced.

It found 42% of the men and 24% of the women had never been married.

Although they yearned for younger men, only 2% of single women in the age group approved of sex on a first date 10 times fewer than the men.

Some 60% of the women and 45% of the men said they had not had sex in the past six months. More than half the men questioned 60% and 35% of the women believed they did not have sex often enough.

The main reason among both men and women for finding a date was for fun and companionship. Only 11% of the men and 2% of the women said sex was their main motivation.