I think age gaps in relationships can be a complete non-issue if you feel you’re both on the same page emotionally and intellectually. That power dynamic you mention is actually really important @Purple, in my opinion.
In my past relationships, most of the men I dated were approximately 10 years older than me as well, and as much as I do believe most of them loved and respected me, some of them definitely tended to take control of things a little more, in ways that I didn’t really even notice until I reflected upon them months, or even years later. I’m not saying that that will always happen with age gaps, but its definitely a potential hurdle. None of those every worked out long term, but whose to say it was because of the age. My current boyfriend is the same age as me, which is a big change, but it’s very clear that the power dynamic in our relationship is much more even than in past relationships. But that just because I’ve picked a better guy? 😀
I guess the biggest thing about age gaps is where you’re at in your life, in a grand overall scheme of things kinda way. My last boyfriend was pretty set in his career at 35, and couldn’t understand why I wanted to go back to uni at 25, because for him it was a kind of spanner in the works of how he saw our future. That wasn’t the reason we broke up, but if other reasons hadn’t driven us apart, I suppose it could have been.
So I guess you just have to go with your gut. No relationship is easy, but if it makes you really happy and its what you want, you’ll find a way to make it work and block out the haters/judgement 🙂