Is it easier for a woman over 40 to get hit by lightning than to get a date? Why or why not?

Well, or course the answer is no on the lightning.  But here's another way to look at dating over 40.  I'm a 64 year old male, and I date women my own age.  However, when you go shopping, you'll notice everything is priced ending in .99.  Items are 3.99 instead of 4:00.  A penny difference, but it just feels cheaper.  On http://Match.Com, a 61 year old woman will often put her age as 59, but admit to being 61 in the text of what she writes.  When men search (the same goes for women), they often put in an upper age like 39, 49, 59, etc.  My advice is to do the same.  As long as you disclose your real age in the text, or even on the first date, I believe that the lie is justified.

I'm 41 and have no trouble getting dates. I have many offers from guys in their mid 20s but don't tend to take them. I get very few from men who are exactly my age or a bit older. The most are in their mid 30s and that's fine with me. If the question comes up about kids, I saved my eggs, so at least we know that we have a good shot. I'm in great physical shape and optimal health. The thing I do that seems to equalize this issue is to diversify my methods and get out a lot, and I don't put my eggs in one basket. No ring, and I keep dating. I have a female friend I go out with close to my age and we have no trouble. We like different types of guys so it's a great fit. I go to sporting events like baseball, and hockey I got to regular meetups for single volunteers, pickup sports games, and interest I have that might draw men. Music is great for that too. I sometimes see this issue about kids, and how you're oh so better off with a 30 year old over a 40 year old. Unless you're so committed to having your own kids that you'd drop a wife who can't reproduce, it's a risk for men to be with a woman with a big age difference. I won't say it can't work, but they should think CAREFULLY if they insist on doing this. She won't have the same ideas about things in life. Even not answering an email can be a different thing if people are over 10 years apart. The risk is, yeah, you'd have kids, but possibly a divorce too. Do you think it would be fun to see your kids every 3rd Sunday? And what if you start out agreeing not to have them, but then at 37 she changes her mind? I've had friends with this problem and it isn't pretty to be 50+ and wanting a 3rd marriage. It seems like you'd be best off getting the woman for the quality of the relationship, how you handle tough times, trust issues, things like that and age not being an issue. If it works, great. Just remember long term, what you have in common means something.

I had a friend who lied and it worked. I didn't agree with this tactic but it did work. She had been stating her correct ages of 38, 39, 40, and gotten dismal results. Then she  put down that she was 32 and her responses increased very dramatically. I did not stay in touch with her so I don't know how she broke the truth to them eventually. But I do know that it worked online. In person it wasn't so hard to get guys interested, but it is harder to find social outlets at 40 than at 25 as I'm sure you know. Good luck.

It is not too hard to be hit by lightning if you want to (go out to the middle of an open field during a thunderstorm, for example) so I'm going to go with "yes."

I'm not sure this is a fair comparison. Getting struck by lightning is something people actively avoid, whereas getting a date is something people actively seek out. It's actually absurdly easy to get struck by lightning if you expend even a minimal amount of effort trying to make it happen. Stand under a good size tree during a thunderstorm and your chances of being struck by lightning approach 100%. I suppose the best conclusion to be drawn from this is to make yourself a metaphorical lightning rod for dates. In other words, take steps to increase your chances of success. As others have pointed out, dating sights allow you to filter potential dates by age. When you give people the option to be more selective they inevitably will be, so it's no wonder age 40+ women on dating websites have more trouble getting dates. Therefore, I recommend in-person blind dates rather than online dating. That way no matter what his feelings on dating women 40 and older he'll at least feel obligated to give you a chance (unless he's an asshole, in which case he wasn't worth dating anyway). Then while you've got him "in your clutches" so to speak, the two of you will have enough time to get to know each other and, hopefully, get past the initial awkwardness of your age differences.

Only if she is standing under one of these...

I am over 40 and can't beat men off with a stick there everywhere as soon as you are friendly and even muttering one word "hi" to them seems to have them circling the house.

Anecdotally, I know plenty of women over 40 who don't seem to have a problem finding men -- attractive men, at that. I think we have to look at other reasons why individual women might have trouble, and those are related to personality or presentation. There is an art to presenting yourself on dating sites. Hell, there are consultants who will package you for online dating. From what I remember, you need to talk about what you can do for the other person, not what you require. I'm sure there's a lot more to it. If you have an annoying personality, that is likely to show through in one way or another. Such people will probably appeal to a limited audience. Such women (or men) will probably have a harder time of it. Demographically, it's probably going to be harder for women than men after age 40 simply because they outnumber men, and as they age, the imbalance is probably going to increase. On the other hand, there are a lot of women who are no longer interested in men or relationships as they age. They've been married once or multiple times, and after they've had kids, may no longer want to put up with babying a man. That might even the numbers a little. So I'm sure this is a boring answer, but there could be a lot of reasons why any individual woman might have trouble finding a data as she ages. Of course, other women will have no problem. So the answer to this question is to look at the factors affective each individual. Generalizations are probably not very helpful here.