Inspired by Madonna

 On the eve of her 50th birthday, Madonna brought up our “ageist” society during an interview on Nightline. She said, “I think women in an unconscious way are valued for their youth, youthful beauty, not so much for their wisdom and experience… Hopefully, we’re going to change all that."

Activists criticize the media for encouraging young girls to mimic sexual maturity, but reactions to Madonna’s comment reveal that pressure for women to look and act a certain age does not disappear when a women enters her thirties. Magazines, glamorous television shows, and advertisements geared toward females tend to feature women in their early twenties, a narrow age gap considering that most women are not in it. More advertisements have addressed the graying US population recently, but many of these feature products that will help women look or stay “young.”

A flourishing anti-aging industry will celebrate the 65th birthday of the first baby boomers in 2011. To date, no technology exists to reverse, prevent, or treat old age, so the term anti-aging is misleading. Antioxidants and green tea might delay the degenerative process, but scientists have yet to figure out what causes it or how it leads to death in such a specific age group. Anti-aging products sell because they promote our communal negative reaction to aging. They teach us to conceal our age from the world, to appear younger, often without addressing any significant health problems that aging women might encounter. Cultural standards encourage us to repress the way that our bodies change as we age rather than accept or embrace the changes. This does not benefit American women.

Our medicalized perception of aging equates it with disease, a view that the cosmetic industry encourages - no one makes money off of a fifty-year-old who loves herself with wrinkles. Our bodily systems fail to function properly and weaken as we age; losses of vision, hearing, memory, and physical strength range from inconvenient to debilitating. Understanding the science behind a condition can improve a person’s quality of life if it answers questions or offers solutions, but thinking about aging solely in terms of its physiological risks is inadequate as well as unsettling. People have never enjoyed the physical limitations of old age, but our warped perceptions of beauty and self-worth make the second half of life sound worse than it needs to be.

The pressure to look young sets unrealistic standards for women, placing health as well as self-esteem at risk. 18% of elderly women in 2006 experienced depressive symptoms, compared to only 10% of elderly men. Eating disorders are rising among female baby boomers – physique and fat distribution change during menopause, but women have difficulty accepting this. American women spend billions every year on cosmetic products that promise to smooth out wrinkles, but the FDA requires virtually no safety or efficacy testing for cosmetic products. The term “scientifically proven” requires no scientific basis on a cosmetic container, and some wrinkle creams damage skin in the long run. Women spend money on Botox and ablative laser surgery, procedures that expose women to risks and side effects as they reduce the visual effects of age. You can read about Botox here.

We know that our culture emphasizes youth rather than healthy aging because the anti-aging industry responds to a demand for technologies that make women look younger. Wrinkles on a man traditionally imply wisdom, status and experience, but a woman’s wrinkles warn others of her declining sex appeal and fertility. Much of the institutionalized sexual discrimination that held these values in place has disappeared since the 70’s, but the culture has not adjusted accordingly. Now that our society values women for more than their reproductive capabilities, we should recognize that these associations are obsolete. This will allow us to respect women for their wisdom and experience, wrinkles and all. If society encourages health in old age rather than youth, the anti-aging market will respond accordingly. If we appreciate the stories, perspective, and maturity that all women acquire with time, we will see that aging is growth, not a disease.

 
(1)    http://www.agingstats.gov/agingstatsdotnet/Main_Site/Data/2010_Documents...
(2)    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6634686/Women-worry-about-their-b...
(3)    http://www.lincolnjournalonline.com/news/2006-04-13/News/021.html
(4)    http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/wrinkle-creams-revealed-trust-hype...