I already stated that age in and of itself is not an advantage.
But when a 34 yr old guy (me a few years ago) breaks up with a hot 21 yr. old, and his next "conquest" is a 20 yr. old, and he finds himself partying primarily with 20 something women, you have to acknowledge the fact that all the shaming in the world won't prevent a woman of ANY age being attracted to an older man.
I could show you pictures of the women I have partied with over the past few years, and most of them were in their early to mid 20's. I didn't sex all of them, but they all treated me as a peer, NOT a "creepy old guy".
I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that you were looking for it and not acknowledging the other side to the coin. I see guy of ALL ages getting rejected regardless of age. I have also heard the "He was creepy" line from these younger women when referring to an older guy they aren't attracted to, but ten minutes later another guy the same age comes up and he's "hot".
The stereotype works in your favor. If you are 40 and dress well and carry yourself with an air of youth, you can look a lot younger.
I'm sure genetics plays a role in this as does my own conscious decisions on how to present myself and act and dress, etc, but in the past six months off the top of my head I can recall bouncers at a couple of clubs being astonished at my age, several women of all ages commenting on how great I look for my age, and one cashier at a liquor store almost refusing to sell me alcohol because she thought I might be too young and giving her a fake ID.
Point is, you most definitely CAN look good at 35, 40, 45and up, and regardless of the shaming, women will always be more attracted to older men than younger men attracted to older women.
Well I don't know who you hang with or what the local "scene" is like there, but amongst my social circles (most of them anyway) the norm is 20 something women with 30 something men. Most of my buddies who are in their 30's roll almost exclusively with women who are 5-10+ years younger.
And as for the younger guys who try to c0ckblock.....I have gotten that in the recent past. They would walk into my rockstar pad and start complaining about how the vodka I served them "doesn't taste like Grey Goose" and sh!t. It's quite amusing because it is blatantly obvious that they are intimidated by me and simply grasping at straws to try to build themselves up. And we all know how THAT goes. A jealous hater always looks like an ass.
All of that stuff DOES matter, but yea, you CAN compensate. Social pressure is often weak. This is possibly the weakest.
One generation of cougars basking in the glow of beta male supplication isn't going to wildly influence the natural order of things.