IT'S time to address a gender imbalance. I'm talking about Cougars. As in, it's all good and well to have a "fun" moniker for mature single women but what about their male counterpart

What should we call these guys?

The ones like Two And A Half Men’s Charlie Sheen who’s onscreen exploits seem a pale imitation of his real life shag-nanegans. Or one-time owner of the Sydney Swans, Dr Geoffrey Edelsten, whose recent wedding was not only significant as a spectacle of wealth but also as a literal bridging of generations.



According to The Urban Dictionary, the male version of the cougar is a “rhino”.



Why? According to the website’s definition it’s “because the specimen is more often than not both horny AND ugly.”



“The rhino is usually found in warmer locales and can be spotted wearing either a flowered or pastel shirt (with 3 buttons opened to expose a mature mane of chest hair) tucked into khaki shorts and sporting boat shoes.



“Also look for horrendous dance moves, a white man's overbite, male pattern baldness and a penchant for picking up the bar tab.”



Yes it’s a convolution of gross stereotypes but as a concept surely it’s not any more offensive than the idea that single women of a certain age are all variations of Stifler’s Mum?



So what exactly should we think about the term “cougar”. Is it derogatory? Professor of Cultural Studies from Curtin University Jon Stratton thinks so.



“The thing about the term itself is that it’s easy to suspect that it makes the connection between women who are looking for a certain kind of partner and a cougar which is looking for prey.



“There’s very much here a sense of men being thought of as defenceless, as being threatened, used up and discarded.”



Stratton says that the term also provides insight into how our society views older females looking for a relationship.



“Men think it’s perfectly acceptable to go out with younger women and therefore those older men, like Rod Stewart, seem to be admired by other men - it’s an achievement,” he said.



“It makes men anxious if women start doing the same things. Older men start feeling anxious that they won’t find a partner.”



Stratton also says that climbing divorce rates mean that there are more middle aged singles who may not be satisfied with dating others their own age.



“What we are looking at is a situation where both sexes are looking for partners that are younger than them. But it’s unfortunate that women have been labelled with this term.”



So it is fair enough to start using terms like “rhino” in response? Stratton’s all for it.



“I think when you talk about a male equivalent (of cougar) the thing is for men it’s been perfectly acceptable to look for younger girlfriends so in a sense what we are seeing here is an equal opportunity action.”



Originally published as Meet the rhino, the male cougar