WHIPs: The new empowering acronym to take on MILFs

We should all aspire to be WHIPs

Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron (Getty)

The term MILF - standing for “Mum I’d like to f***” - was first popularised by the film American Pie in 1999, and since then, it’s entered the mainstream lexicon.

The trouble is, MILF has undeniably negative connotations so an alternative was long overdue.

Enter, then, the WHIP. Or the “woman who is hot, intelligent and in her prime.” PREACH.

For a long time, successful, glamorous, older women - especially those who have relationships of any kind with younger men - have been painted in a negative way.

They were crudely labelled “cougars” or “MILFs,” conjuring up the image of desperate old ladies preying on fresh young man meat.

But this could not be further from the truth, so we welcome the WHIPs.

The term was coined by writer Bibi Lynch, who suggested it on This Morning. It’s empowering and simply more accurate.

“With ‘cougar,’ the men are prey,” Lynch, 51, said. “WHIPs felt funnier, smarter, and sexier.”

Society’s obsession with youth - particularly when it comes to women - does nothing for the sisterhood. We’re so afraid of ageing that older women can sometimes be hostile to their younger counterparts, and the idea of all women competing with each other is rife.

But by celebrating older women, we can stop this.

Karren Brady, Demi Moore, Sheryl Sandberg, Fiona Bruce, Brigitte Macron, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Aniston - all women who are, undeniably, WHIPs.

The idea of a MILF is another example of our society’s inherent sexism, as DILF never really caught on. What’s more, women who date younger men are judged a lot more harshly than men who date younger women.

Contrast “sugar daddy” with “cougar” - the latter is a lot more aggressive than the former.

French president Emmanuel Macron, whose wife Brigitte is 24 years his senior, has spoken out on the subject before: “If I had been 20 years older than my wife, nobody would have thought for a single second that I couldn’t be legitimately together.

“It says a lot about the misogyny in France... There is a big problem with... how they see the place of a woman.”

We should all celebrate and aspire to be WHIPs.