gothicprep:
whenever twitter wants to land their hot takes about age gaps in relationships, I think what’s often overlooked is that it’s not all that unusual to not be aware of how old the people in your personal life are.
if you asked me how old my coworkers are, i don’t think I could give you a single confident answer. I could give you some educated guesses based on their appearances, interests, and behavior, but not anything more specific than “I think Kat is in her 30s?”
Not only is it not unusual, but the “problem” with toxic relationships that involve an age gap usually isn’t the fucking age gap, it’s the power imbalance and the abuse of it. It’s the fact that, when you’re dealing with what I think most people imagine when you say “age gap”, that being like, a high schooler and a significantly older person who is probably out of school, the issue is that the older person has a lot more freedom, financial means, and independence than the younger person. And THAT can be abused.
Age gaps aren’t inherently bad, the older you get the more likely it is that you will have age gaps, both younger and older, in ANY relationship you have (romantic, platonic, etc.). I have co-workers who are younger than me, I have co workers who are a lot older than me. I’m on the younger end (27) so not so much co workers who are THAT much younger than me, but when I’m like. 35? I’ll STILL be around people, and probably be friendly with people, in their 20s.Maybe even very early 20s (fresh graduates) because that’s how life works.
Oh, here we are, the very specific thought it took me about 200 words to say in a single sentence. Nice, thank you!