Women and the Fear of Aging

Have you ever noticed how most women are afraid to get older? You may know someone, or be someone, who lies about there age. Age is often such a taboo subject with us females that you may get your head bitten off if you so much as ask us our age. Why is this? Why are women so afraid of aging? I think it has a lot to do with society. Women even play a part in the whole system themselves, perpetuating the idea that it's bad for a them to be old.

What do we fear?
What are we so afraid of? Certain things happen to your body when you get older. Your skin on your face and hands becomes loose and wrinkles. Women lose the ability to have children after a certain age. What else do we fear?

We often fear that the older we get, the lesser a chance we have of falling in love. Or it may be the case that we fall in love with someone, but they don't love us because we are just too old. We can't bear their children or are wrinkles are unbecoming.

Why do we fear it?
You can see the trend of aging when you look at Hollywood and the actors and actresses who occupy it. The most famous and well liked male stars are older. Think of George Clooney (45), and Sean Connery (76). These actors are still famous even as they get on in years. They're both seen as sex symbols in the eyes of their female fans and continue to get a lot of acting work. Their age doesn't seem to hinder their success. Perhaps it even helps it!

Now try to think of older actresses. It's really hard! I can think of a few: Judi Dench (72) and Glenn Close (59), but they wouldn't be considered sex symbols. The most popular actresses seem to be at a very young age, mostly in their late teens and early twenties. How can women compete with that? It shows that older women aren't as much of a commodity as the younger ones.

Plastic surgery is another thing that has hindered the progress of older females. Now it's normal for people to get plastic surgery to get rid of wrinkles and sags. The more plastic surgeries we females as a whole get, the more it seems to imply that age is bad. It may be okay for us to be fifty, we just can't look fifty.

Once a woman nears the end of her biological clock where she can no longer have children, it seems that some people view them as 'broken.' Age takes away the major part of what makes a woman a woman. If you can no longer have kids, you aren't a complete female. It's sad that people think this, although I understand where they are coming from. Still, the ability to have children shouldn't define us or make us any less desirable.

What can be done?
The first place to insight change is from within. If you don't like the state of aging in woman, don't be afraid to say how old you are. Are you sixty? Shout it from the rooftops! Have you gone through menopause? Say how great it is! Once women start to accept aging within their own group, then it will slowly leak to the general public. Soon you'll be hearing men proclaim how attractive they think Meryl Streep is. It can happen; we just need everyone's support