A lot of men read pieces like this and get defensive. One can make assumptions about why that may be, but I will say this:

I don't speak for all women, but most of us are calling out age gap relationships more in the sense of *phases of life* than specific numbers (though the actual, numerical age does matter in many cases).

There's relatively little concern regarding, say, a 25 year old woman dating a 33 year old man, because at that point they are both likely to be comparable in maturity and basic life experience. But a 20 year old with a 30 year old is very different, because she probably has very little experience in the working, adult world compared to him, and that can cause income and power imbalances that are very, very often exploited by the older male partner.

Men should not be out here thinking "well, I'm naturally attracted to younger women and it's a free country–so it's morally neutral to seek out romantic/sexual relationships with them!" Some people are pedophiles who are into children, but even if that were somehow legal, it would still be morally wrong (albeit in a much more extreme sense).

And just because something is technically "not evil," that doesn't mean it's free of consequences and that doesn't mean it's right. You have to consider the impact you'll have on a younger person before you make that kind of choice. Proceed with empathy, maturity, and caution, not defensiveness and mindless lust.