Women and aging

[hirondelle]

This is a sensitive and touchy subject, but one I have heard more than one Northlander comment on on FB at least.  We live in a society which despite striving towards gender equality still values aging men far more than aging women.  It is easier more men to get heavier, greyer and still be considered attractive than a woman.  If an older woman is still considered attractive it is pretty certain she will be one of the lucky few blessed with good genes, or who puts time and money into retaining youthful looks.

I guess most Northlanders are still too young to be concerned with this issue, but for those of us who are this article is worth a read - one quote leaps out for me:

Quote

 

These [anti aging strategies like cosmetic surgery, anti-wrinkle creams and exercise] can be very effective strategies, and I completely understand why so many of us engage in them. No judgment, I swear. But trying to pass for younger is like a gay person trying to pass for straight or a person of color for white. These behaviors are rooted in shame over something that shouldn’t be shameful. And they give a pass to the underlying discrimination that makes them necessary.

 

 

Working to Disarm Women’s Anti-Aging Demon

 

 

[Tika]

Society is definitely easier on aging men then it is on aging women.  Women are supposed to age gracefully and usually that seems to mean that women are supposed to put more effort into maintaining societies standards then men.  

Take hair loss for example, or hair color.  Men are now shaving their heads deliberately because bald is in right now and in a lot of cases considered very sexy (take Vin Diesel for example) but it's not the same for women.  Or going grey...  there's an entire aisle in the stores just for women's hair color driven to hide the grey.  And there's a tiny section for men.  Women still find older men sexy and it's not uncommon to see a 20 year age difference but if it's an older woman and a younger guy she's a cougar (implied predator).

Double standards everywhere...  personally while I'm not exactly enjoying that some things are less perky than they used to be I'm not really trying to hide it.  I have fairly good genetics and most people think I'm 10 years younger than I am but I'm always honest that I'm 40 and not 30.  I do color my hair but that's more because I like being a bit more red lol.