I was speaking of college age, not high school. College age women are generally legal adults as are college age men.

I'm sure there are also some college age men dating older women but not as many. It's not because they don't have access. They're a legal adult and the same dynamics apply.

In high school, the same restrictions also apply to girls/women dating younger boys/men. At my high school prom, they closed it to everyone BUT students so it turned out a really lame, ruined prom because a lot of students were dating kids from neighboring communities as happens in small towns. They also barred underclassmen. Again, total disaster.

One of my classmates was dating a junior. He could come to her senior prom but she could not attend his because she had graduated and was now a freshman in college, even though they had been dating since e middle school and eventually married. They're STILL married btw, and it still irks both of them to no end that both their proms got ruined.

I don't know when and where you went to high school, but I assure you, what you described is no longer how things have been for—several decades now.

I'm sure others will weigh in.