17 + 32?

Yeah it can work, though you need to accept that people are going to be dicks about it. That's because they'll see you as a naive inexperienced girl, probably being taken advantage of.

I got a lot of ribbing for dating 17 year old women when I was 24/25, I was in a relationship with one for about three years and even had to experience being accused of having 'mental problems' as apparently, getting with a 17 y/o was 'paedophile' behaviour. (yeah!)

Funny thing is, now I'm 30 and I'm with a 23 year old, not many people are kicking up a fuss even though the age difference is similar.

No one is going to be moaning when he's 47 and you're 32, but getting there is going to be the hard part. The thing I experience with my relationship, is that the initial scorn is powerful in unifying and cementing your relationship through the initial phases, but it's after that where things may fall apart. Mainly this is down to things you might want to do; at 30 some people look towards settling down and getting into routine, at 17 going on 20 the opposite is usually true. That's how my relationship ended, 17y/o decided she wanted the party lifestyle, whereas I'd been there, done that. She ended up in debt with the debt collectors calling, I didn't bail her out but that's a story for another time.

Best advice I can give you is to be honest with yourself about your feelings for this guy, tell him so and ask if he wants to take a chance building a relationship. But be aware you both need to put in the time and effort (as with all relationships) and you will have some divergences in goals at some point (say he wants a kid as he's getting old but you feel too young...) don't fall into the trap of early infatuation, easier said than done but even the most 'mature' of persons fall into this far too quickly.