Cougars: Unfortunately Coming to a Town Near You

Today in reference to Demi Moore, someone jokingly asked me, “What do you have against cougars?”

My response?

“I’m all for cougars, but let’s just call them what they are, grown ass women who own their sexuality, are comfortable in their skin and deserve to be celebrated and not demonized as desperate predators.”

Then I woke up. As I drove through West Hollywood to see my doctor today, I was inundated with posters for Cougar Town the “comedy” starring Courtney Cox that comes out on ABC later this month. Forget about owning your sexuality and being comfortable in your aging skin. The promo ads for Cougar Town perpetuate the stereotype of older, single and sexuality active women as animalistic predators on the prowl to prove they are still attractive and worthy. Oh, yeah. Did I mention that they eat their young and potential mates? I wish Cougar Town held its promise of ending this tired story, but if the ads are any indication of what’s to come–be afraid, be very afraid.

In one TV promo, Courtney’s cougar banters like a 12 year-old boy trying to be cool by saying things like, “I thought I’d get (my friend) drunk and try to hit that”. In another promo, she’s so desperate to prove she’s still got it that she flashes a neighborhood kid riding his bike, causing him to crash.

Unfortunately, Cougar Town seems to be less about aging gracefully, and more about the ups and downs of catching a man despite being used goods. Did I say that out loud? What I meant to say was despite being a divorced mother.

Grrrrr.

Related content:

The Lowdown on Aging

The Old and Tired

View Your Body As If You Were 80

Seeing Beauty in All: Over-40 Nudes

Face It! – What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change, The Book

Huff Post Highlights Beautiful Older Women

Older Leading Ladies and the Evolution of Hollywood

6 thoughts on “Cougars: Unfortunately Coming to a Town Near You

  1. Thanks for pointing that out. What we were trying to say was that the character is so desperate to act young and cool she talks like a young naive white kid trying to sound hard (or what his young, sheltered mind equates to sounding Black). In an effort to show the immaturity of her behavior, the phrase was badly articulated. Hopefully, the new edit gets the point across any better.

  2. “In one TV promo, Courtney?s cougar banters like a 14 year-old white boy trying to sound black…”

    …wow. ‘Cause all us Black folks talks funny, usin dem slang words and such…smh. What an incredibly stupid thing to say.

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