In wealthy societies men's value is primarily based on their looks due to societal decadence and the fact that women do not need men as much. The exception to that is men who are super wealthy (10 million+ net worth) or are famous or at least have niche high social status (well known local DJ, social media influencer with 100,000+ followers, etc). Nobody is arguing against this. Yes of course in any western country a handsome 23 year old man with 6 pack abs has a much better chance with young women in their prime than a typical 35 or 40 year old man even if the 35 year old has $1 or $2 million dollars in net worth.
The important part is that in non-wealthy countries women place less emphasis on how the man looks plus overall wealth levels are lower so a low tier millionaire with $1 or $2 million in net worth is an important man in those countries. Yes even in poor countries being a handsome man is seen as a plus plus its not the number one priority for women. The priority order gets shifted. Thus you will see in many Asian countries, African countries, Latin American countries, and some poorer countries in Europe (Moldova, Romania, etc) that a 35 year old man with a $1 million net worth has a more options when it comes to young women aged 18 - 25 than an early 20s man who is better looking.
And the 1 - 4 year age gap in most countries is based on average men. In the poorer/non western countries any man in his 30s and 40s who has $1 million dollars net worth (an obtainable amount for men that age who work hard, invest wisely and have a bit of luck) provided he is in reasonable shape and has some game has ample access to women aged 18 - 25. You can see this in many latin american countries, African countries, asian countries, certain Slavic countries, etc men who are financially doing well are often dating women 10 - 20 years younger than them.
For example I know a Colombian guy in Australia who had been living in Australia for 10 years and had permanently residency here. He was in his 40s. He went back to Colombia to find a girl to marry and brought her back to Australia. The woman he married was a 27 year old Venezuelan woman. I knew him before he got married and after. Last time I had seen him he had been married a year and he seemed very happy. I saw a photo of his wife. She was slightly above average looking by western standards but not a stunner by any means. The guy wasn't rich though but he had a decent paying job. And the guy was below average looking. So you don't need to be a celebrity or multi-millionaire to marry a significantly younger girl as long as you aren't trying to meet the girl in a western country.
Even in Colombia when I visited most women were dating men of a similar age but that was because most guys didn't have money and if they had a choice between a broke guy their own age and a broke older guy then they would prefer the broke guy their own age and hence the average age gap was not that large. However most Colombian girls I had met would rather date a guy 10 - 20 years older who has money than a broke guy their own age. But since the guys with money are rare they don't show up in the aggregation of statistics hence the average age gap is small. This is the key point you seem to be missing.
