In my profile on dating sites, I normally keep a broad age range (like 18-36) because there are some ultra-hot cougars. I myself am 31, so I have no problem with an 18 year old or 35 year old.

This girl sent me a flirt/wink/whatever, then we start talking. Her first question straight away is why did I choose that age range, and do I prefer 18 year olds or the other end of the range.

I have a few ideas of where I'll take it, but curious to hear how anyone else would handle this kind of question?

A similar thing happened to me, my age range was 18-35 and I'm 19. I was pretty direct and i just said, it's because ive been with women in between this range in the past and i was content with those experiences. The reply i got was positive but i suppose it depends on the individual, some girls will react differently.

Good luck.

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The difference between me and you? Nothing.

Nice one man. I had so many potentially dirty/crass responses in mind. The thing is, this chick initiated with me, but I don't meet a lot of her 'bullet points' (height, income, etc). So I'm like - does she just think I'm some chump who will give her this info. She claims she 'has always wanted to ask someone this' age question.

i've never gotten this question but depending on how the interaction was going so far i would probably respond in one of two ways.

if the conversation up to this point has been quick and casual (i.e., the messages back and forth are like a couple of sentences each time) then i would kinda blow if off with something like 'i dunno, i didnt really give it any thought'.

if the conversation up to this point was more drawn out and involved (i.e., you're sending page-long multi-paragraph messages back and forth and you're going into detail on stuff) i would just tell her that i'm openminded about the age of the girls i date, that age is just a number, and that it's more important how much fun and how interesting a girl is than how old she is.

i would say that as long as you don't tell her that you're way into either cougars or high school girls (even if it's true), you're probably fine.

There was no interaction beforehand - so basically her 'opener' to me was 'I've been so curious, and I noticed in your profile you said 18-35. I'm just curious why." Then she typed like 3 other long paragraphs about some other stuff. I don't meet a lot of her basic requirements, but we know how girls' checklists can just fly out the window....