AceShowbiz -

Andie MacDowell says in an interview with PEOPLE that she doesn't approve the word "cougar." The "Magic Mike XXL" actress, who has a role of an indelicate, somewhat vulgar, more than somewhat sexually charged woman in the movie, admits that she finds the word "cougar" "offensive."

"There's this notion that as men get older they become more handsome, so therefore they can have younger women, but there is no reality to that obviously - it's just another way to disempower women," the 57-year-old actress explains.

"[Women] have been disempowered for so long and I think that it's finally our time," she adds, "And if we want to date a guy that's 20 years younger than we are then we definitely have that same right, just like any man does. I dare any 57-year-old man to tell me that he looks younger than me."

Andie points out that a relationship depends more on how two people feel for one another than on how much the age gap between a couple. "The thing of it is that people are people and age is just a number," the "Groundhog Day" actress shares, "It all depends on how you connect with someone, how you relate to someone, so why demean either one of us? Why should we do that to disempower either one of us?"