Did older men marry younger women because the youthfulness of the women indicated fertility?

I’m pretty sure it’s just because they look better. Still happens now…

chicks lose their looks fairly soon.

30 = over the hill, in most instances.

so, it makes sense to marry young women rather than old bags – know what i mean?

yeah, that’s about the gist of it

No, I think most of them had vasectomies by then and they are just horny. Its an even exchange of sex for goods. Just like Madonna and her beau. She is not with him because he’s fertile. He wouldn’t date her if she didn’t buy him shiny things and give him publicity.

Being youthful is not an indication of a woman’s fertility status. Older men marry younger women because they are over the hill and believe that younger women energize and rejuvenate their libido. This gives the older man the false impression that he is youthful again and causes him to act like an old fool. It’s all about sex. Therefore, your question should have been "Why do older men marry younger women?"

Yes, but in most cases, its indirect. In other words, men like youthful women because they are "attractive", but men evolved to think the young ones are attractive because they are more fertile. People get confused about these two levels of explanation.
For any given behavior that is genetic, there is the "functionality" of the behavior, which is how the behavior benefits the individual. and the "causation" of the behavior, which is what triggers the behavior.
An example you can relate to easily is eating. Eating evolved to provide nutrients to the organism. Thats the functionality. But we eat because we are hungry. So hunger is the trigger or "causation".

Google "evolutionary biology", and maybe "evolutionary psychology".

I don’t think men look at women and think, "Whoa, she looks fertile!" The fact remains that what men find "hot" about a woman’s appearance just happen to be indicators of fertlity. Put another way, fertility makes a woman sexually attractive to men.

Men even find the SAME woman MORE attractive when she is ovulating.

Why don’t you google "hip waist ratio" to start.