280,000 UK women seek toyboys online

Thousands of middle-aged British women are taking to the web in search of toy boys, according to a new report.

The number of older women looking for men online has risen by 20 percent in a year and some 280,000 of those aged over 45 are looking for younger men, claims the dating service Parship, citing what it calls “scientific research”.

Three percent of them – that is, getting on for ten thousand women – are looking for men more than ten years younger than themselves.

The figures are an extrapolation of responses to a survey of 1000 unattached adults aged over 18.

They also indicated that 42 percent of single men in their forties and fifties are looking for a younger woman – and they are in with a chance, because more than a third (36 percent) of women between the ages of 25 and 35 would prefer their partner to be older by five years or more.

One in twenty five single men between the ages of 25 and 35 did admit seeking an attractive older woman, and 47 percent said age wasn’t an issue.

But Parship’s Penny Conway said there is a shortage of potential male partners over the age of 50, with women of the same age outnumbering them on dating-agency registers.

Internet dating is now a mainstream activity. Nearly four million people in Britain visit dating sites each month, according to Parship.