Why I became a cheerleader for cougar women.
So many people ask me how I became a self-appointed spokesperson and cheerleader for cougar women. “After all,” they say, “you are not married to a younger, man so why should this matter to you?” That’s a good question and one I ask myself quite often. (Could it be I secretly wanted to have a younger man of my own?)It wasn’t until the summer of 2007 that I even knew what it meant to be a “cougar.” One day while doing research for my blog (which at the time was about Boomers), I came across a rather scathing article that put women over 40 in an extremely negative light. They were being portrayed as lonely, desperate predators out prowling for young cubs. After that it seemed the floodgates burst open and cougars became the new media darlings. Demi Moore, Madonna, Katie Couric and so many more were christened “cougars” whether they liked it or not. That’s when I decided to start my own campaign to upgrade the image of the cougar.
I felt very passionate about this new challenge I had undertaken and even renamed my blog The Real Cougar Woman. I was a little nervous about doing that because I knew it could alienate a lot of my readers. But I did it and never looked back. I began an endless writing crusade on how smart cougars are, how independent cougars are and how sexy cougars are. How they take care of their bodies and their relationships, and how they are very serious about figuring out what they want and how to get it.
You never know where you will end up when you start down a new path, but I have been very lucky. Shortly after I started my cougar crusade the Boston Globe gave me credit for coining the term “real cougar,” turning a negative image into something very positive for all women over 40. Of course, that made me more determined than ever to continue what I was doing.
So, that’s how it began. Today I have thousands of women in my community, and helping them figure out their issues helps me figure out mine. After spending close to 25 years running a trading department on Wall Street, this new chapter in my life is like a breath of fresh air.
