The term “daddy” has exploded in popularity in recent years. Actor Pedro Pascal was recently crowned the internet’s daddy. There is an app called Dream Daddy where players can date a daddy. Saturday Night Live even ran a skit about daddies.
While there is no shortage of discussions about daddies, there is little research about what the term means to the men who are classified as daddies themselves.
My new book, Daddies of a Different Kind: Sex and Romance Between Older and Younger Adult Gay Men, investigates this topic. I talked to 39 men in their 40s, 50s and 60s who saw themselves as daddies, and 26 men in their 20s and 30s who liked dating older men. I focused on gay and bisexual men because they are more likely to form partnerships with large age gaps than any other group in the western world.
