Meet cougar's male counterpart - "rhino"!

Melbourne, Dec 10 (ANI): Mature single women falling for younger men have often been dubbed "cougars", but the term for their male counterparts - "rhino" - often escapes attention.

According to The Urban Dictionary this is "because the specimen is more often than not both horny and ugly.

"The rhino is usually found in warmer locales and can be spotted wearing either a flowered or pastel shirt (with 3 buttons opened to expose a mature mane of chest hair) tucked into khaki shorts and sporting boat shoes."

The website adds: "Also look for horrendous dance moves, a white man's overbite, male pattern baldness and a penchant for picking up the bar tab."

But even if a term like the "rhino" exists, it is much less offensive then calling a woman a "cougar", say critics.

"The thing about the term itself is that it's easy to suspect that it makes the connection between women who are looking for a certain kind of partner and a cougar which is looking for prey," News.com.au quoted Jon Stratton, Professor of Cultural Studies at Curtin University as saying.

The expert added: "There's very much here a sense of men being thought of as defenceless, as being threatened, used up and discarded."

He also explains the societal attitude associated with the term: "Men think it's perfectly acceptable to go out with younger women and therefore those older men, like Rod Stewart, seem to be admired by other men - it's an achievement.

"It makes men anxious if women start doing the same things. Older men start feeling anxious that they won't find a partner."

Prof Stratton added: "What we are looking at is a situation where both sexes are looking for partners that are younger than them. But it's unfortunate that women have been labelled with this term.

"I think when you talk about a male equivalent (of cougar) the thing is for men it's been perfectly acceptable to look for younger girlfriends so in a sense what we are seeing here is an equal opportunity action." (ANI)