I’m Begging ‘MILF Manor’ to Stop Confusing MILFs and Cougars

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/TLCOn a societal level, and for a number of reasons, MILF Manor is a deeply distressing series. Are we all going to stand by and watch a series that seems to have tricked a bunch of twentysomething guys and their mothers into showing up on an island to date one another? If the world of reality TV has taught me anything, it’s that the answer is definitely “Yes—absolutely, yes.” But are we also going to stand by and let this misuse of the term “MILF” stand?MILF Manor—a reality nightmare from TLC—is a dating retreat in which a gaggle of dudes and their mothers unwittingly show up to date one another. That is to say: the so-called “MILFs” are here to date guys their sons’ ages in the presence of their sons, and vice versa. But are these women actually MILFs? Or are they cougars—or jaguars, or pumas?As The Daily Beast’s Obsessed’s own Fletcher Peters pointed out in her review, “MILF” is a notorious acronym to describe a mother who is also physically attractive. Cougars, on the other hand, are older women who actively pursue younger men. A MILF might have no interest in the dudes who pine after her, and cougardom is a state of mind more than anything else.Read more at The Daily Beast.