Women Who Had Teen "Relationships" With Older Men The Realize Were Predators Share How It Happened

·Posted on Apr 27, 2025"These men didn't want us because we were 'mature for our age.' They wanted us precisely because we weren't."by Victoria VouloumanosBuzzFeed Contributor When teenage girls share stories about "dating" much older men, there's often a common thread: they felt they were exceptional — uniquely mature, specially chosen, or deeply understood by these adult men. It's only with the hindsight of adulthood that many now recognize these "relationships" for what they truly were: predatory situations where grown men exploited the vulnerability and inexperience of teenage girls. These dynamics persist, in part, because society has long framed romantic attention from older men as flattering rather than alarming — especially for girls still forming their identities. It's a harmful narrative, and one we need to keep challenging. After we published previous stories from the BuzzFeed Community, even more women reached out to share their own experiences — often for the first time. S...