Article on older women, ageism and feminism

On the same sort of line, a friend keeps giving me here copies of Saga magazine......it seems to have changed since I used to see it at the doctors several years ago, and now features more and more pictures of older women....TRYING TO LOOK YOUNG.

And now only says on the front that it's for grownups...........

The ones that drive me crazy are Woman and Home etc that have those incredibly airbrushed photos of older women like Mirren, Syal etc etc with every wrinkle and sagging jaw profile removed. Skin like a baby's bottom. Right.

Personally I think that the article is far too pessimistic and grim.
But I agree about the lack of older women in the media.

Amazed a couple of weeks ago when Priscilla Presley appeared perfectly presented on TV and I was watching with my GS.....I said 'she must be over 50' but he went to check and with jaw dropping said 'she's 70!!!!'

Is this what we are supposed to emulate in order not to appear past our sell-by date?

(anyone remember that the first Women's Liberation march featured the music 'Keep young and beautiful, if you want to be loved'...........

She did look a little odd though didn't she, La Presley. Plastic surgery project extraordinaire.
There are lots of older women who dress with style and look attractive - but at the same time they are not trying to hide their age.
I

I must be more than usually dim today.

Can anyone explain to me what the sentence
"Unfortunately older women have come to symbolise everything that contemporary feminism seeks to deny: biological necessity, the body, the limits of internal self-perception as the sole arbiter of truth."

actually means , in particular the phrase 'internal perception as the sole arbiter of truth'
Preferably in words of one syllable.

"internal perception" I think might mean how we feel on the inside. And that can't be the 'sole arbiter of truth'.

Yes. It's unfair that women get a physical cut-off point biologically, with the menopause. HRT all round?

Internal self perception, should have said.

Good try jingl
I am not really any the wiser as to what the sentence is talking about though

I added Pricilla Presley to my hit list of "women who look wonderful despite being older."

Helen Mirren, Twiggy, Sharon Osborne, Joan Collins etc are all on my hit list.

However Maggie Smith, Mary Berry and Judy Dench seem to be aging in their own sweet way if I am not mistaken.

They really don't do much in support of the sisterhood.

Maggie, Judy and Mary are comfortable in their own skin, they are all
icons who attained the pinnacle of success and have the self confidence
and poise that people with great talent exude. No need for fripperies!!!!

It was interesting to see Twiggy on the Beatles countdown programme. TV can't be air brushed. She looked very nice, but her age.

x

It makes me mad that we think looking young is a good thing. I wish, instead, we'd celebrate how healthy someone looked and how active they were or intelligent, all the things that really matter more than how much effort over make-up and hair has been taken.

What a daft article!

Mouraann, well said.Those plastic surgery enhanced,people look like freaks most of the time.Pricilla(who is not called Presley grrrr) included.Did anyone see Maggie Smith on tv.She was asked about roles for older women,she dismissed it,"they've been saying that for years"she said.Judy Dench is my all time hero,How many times do you need to be told,Real beauty comes from within.Strong women do it alone.

If people say I don't look my age I tell them this is what 66 looks like. I have been young, middle aged and now I am old I assume.. That is life why fight it?

Good grief! I can assure the writer of this article that as I grew up in the 1960s and fought my feminist corner then, I refuse to be seen as losing my value now. More fool us if we go along with this type of twaddle.

Priscilla Presley looked like a wax mask on the One Show, she couldn't smile or laugh naturally. I much prefer Maggie Smith with her wrinkles and beauty from within!

Well said well said Mollie and Marmark 1.....Myself and DH ran our own
Firm for 40 years and I have been a Rotarian for a good number of years also. Believe me when you operate in a mans world intellect and stamina
come far above pulchritude.....' it don't help when you have to think on the
Hoof'!!!!!

My nice hairdresser was awestruck at a photo shoot of Priscilla Presley in Hello or some such mag.
He thought she looked absolutely amazing, wonderful etc etc. When I said 'She's the same age as me I think' his jaw dropped.

Bless .... (as they say these days)

I wonder what that kind of continual maintenance costs??

I think Twiggy and Joanna Lumley (both in my generation) look wonderful for
their age.

I think most women of the same age could/would look like Helen Mirren, et al. mentioned if they had the same amount of time and money to spend, and the team of experts around them. Priscilla Presley is an example of far too much plastic surgery. You'll never see them with hair needing its roots doing. The makeup and clothing we see them wearing on the red carpet is only to be worn for a short time and constantly touched up between shots. And photos like the ones Twiggy does for M&S are heavily photoshoped.

To me there's a big difference between well maintained and looking unnaturally young for your age. Judy Dench looks great, but has pretty awful dress sense - although it makes her more like the rest of the us. I'm struggling to think of a woman in the public eye who I think looks good and the one who comes to mind is Nicola Sturgeon. A surprise to me.

We who are not 'lifted' don't know what it all feels like. Remember Barbara Bush? She had a permenent smile and it was impossible for her to look grieved after 9/11. I can imagine your face feels tight and I wouldn't like it.
Looking young is nothing to do with feminism.
It is having your daughters in as good jobs as your sons have and equal pay etc.