I'm going to highlight the word "only" in the thread title. At second observance, if this is a true expression of your desire then I will condemn it.
If you reject potential dates because they aren't "younger" then I don't think you are looking for a relationship. I'd guess you are appeasing your libido.
It should surprise no one that a man is attracted to young women. We were trained as young boys to appreciate the girls of that age. That appreciation is never forgotten. We grow beyond it. We never grow out of it.
Attraction isn't about relationships or even sex. It's natures way to assure propagation. Throughout evolution older women were less likely to successfully give birth than was a younger woman or young girl. For that reason alone a man is inherently interested in youth.
I maintain the reason for this thread (as forgottendanfan points out) you are seeking permission, I might add, to think with your penis.
Attraction can be about character. A woman your age or older is as likely to click with you as anyone younger, maybe more so. Ask yourself why women of 30 years don't inspire your affection. A mature woman is going to give you more opportunity for a relationship.
I'll ask, what is it you are truly seeking? Sex? Or a lasting relationship? Not that a young woman can't provide a lasting relationship. But as long as you use age as a dating criteria you are much less likely to find one.
Note: This might sound in contrast to my earlier post, but I had assumed at my first reading that there was a young girl interested in the OP. That opined with respect to a girl that had feelings for an older man. No one has the right to tell her to get a grip.
Age doesn't matter, unless it does. Meaning, if it is an "ONLY" standard then it does matter. In that case it is predatory.
Then you'd be leaping to conclusions and reaching an incomplete judgement. For starters, for religious reasons I'll be expected to marry and have children. A woman my age is going to have a harder and harder time doing that. I'm always going to have the feeling of missing out if I go with a woman my age and I'm not going to let them stop me from fixing that.
Secondly, I don't believe that most women my age who would be interested in me now would have given me a chance when we were both 21 meaning that objectively, they would be getting a much better deal and I would be getting the short end of the stick. I am in arguably the best shape of my life physically and and my career is starting to come together. Why should I even consider someone who has less of what I want at a time where I've got more and more to offer? I'm never going to do that and so the age standard is completely justified.
"But as long as you use age as a dating criteria you are much less likely to find one."
Pfft I've had them interested in me recently as a result of my music. I don't think it will be that hard, just a matter of getting out enough.
And it's bold and incorrect of you to assume character isn't a factor here. I find that a lot of single women my age are more entitled. Women who wouldn't have given me a chance when we were younger (which was absolutely their right) are now angry that they don't have the same advantage they once did. I very much get an attitude from many of them that they feel men their age are morally obligated to date them when we aren't. That type of "screw your needs, but I'll take you now that you have more to offer me mentality" is something I'll never want in a woman.
Age doesn't matter, unless it does. Meaning, if it is an "ONLY" standard then it does matter. In that case it is predatory.
This makes zero sense whatsoever. Having a set standard doesn't make anything predatory in anyway. Unless we are going to say that women who will only date men 6 ft above, or who earn a certain amount of money are also predatory which I don't see them as. Behaviour is predatory when you act with no regards to the wellbeing of whoever you are trying to enter a relationship with, acting in a dishonest way or if you're going for someone below the age of consent. None of those factors apply here. A 21 year old woman can have sex changing surgery, go to war and die, drive a car and vote. I think she can make the decision to date a guy in his 30s or older.
The bottom line is men wanting relationships with younger women isn't the problem, some women who aren't in that age range thinking they have any leverage to dictate our preferences is.