A 69-year-old Dutchman who says he looks young and feels young now even wants to legally decrease his age by 20 years.
Mr. Emile Ratelbrand, an entrepreneur and guru of self-help, hopes that this will bring him better luck with women, especially when he goes on dating the Tinder app, as well as better job prospects.
In order to change his date of birth from Mar 11, 1949, to Mar 11, 1969, Mr. Ratelbrand filed a lawsuit against the Dutch government.
It would make him 49 years old to do so, which he claims would encourage him “to live differently.”
“You can change your name. You can change your gender. Why not your age? Nowhere are you so discriminated against as with your age,” he was quoted as saying by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf on Oct 27.
Mr. Ratelbrand also claimed in court that businesses were unable to recruit him because of his age, and he had few matches on Tinder as well.
“When I’m 69, I am limited. If I’m 49, then I can buy a new house, drive a different car. I can take up more work,” he said.
“When I’m on Tinder and it says I’m 69, I don’t get an answer. When I’m 49, with the face I have, I will be in a luxurious position.”
The judge in Arnhem, in the eastern province of Gelderland, was sympathetic to Mr Ratelbrand’s case, according to the British newspaper The Daily Express, and also conceded that it was unimaginable years ago to legally change one’s gender.
The judge, however, argued that if individuals were allowed to change their birth date, there would be complications from a legal perspective.