I am writing this letter as an individual who is tired of our culture's obsession with youthfulness.
For too long I have seen young people glorified over others who are deemed "too old". This has always been most noticeable when it comes down to women. We see the types of Madonna labelled as past it (which is unfair) and then we have to witness her efforts to stay culturally relevant by exposing more flesh than any of us would wish to see...which was the case when she intentionally exposed her bum on a red carpet recently.
This disregard for 'older women' is also pretty evident in films and television too. With plenty of successful models coming forward and stating their distaste with the film industry and the lack of leading roles for women over 30. But this doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon as we are so used to seeing a guy in his 40s as the lead male, staring opposite a fresh and beautiful 20 year old woman as his love interest. Often the result of this casting is a quite creepy feel where the female role probably should be played with an attraction to dad-type figures.
The truly frustrating thing is that most of the time it is women who are making these decisions to show younger girls and the new 'it' girls who are barely out of school. I mean how many models over 40 can you think of? Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell are probably all most people can remember.
But it doesn't even just go for women anymore either and now men are feeling the pressures of looking good and trying to stay young and relevant. It goes to show that ageing - which has long been seen as an issue for women - is in fact an issue for all of us. It isn't just women who get caught up on those significant points in life' like sending your kids off to university, going grey and becoming less competent. Rather I think it is that classic thing of women are just more likely to communicate it better.
At the end of the day no one is truly prepared for what ageing brings, it creeps up on us and then we are exiled because of it. But ageing is the one thing we all have in common, so shouldn't we be helping each other out with it? and realise that we are all in the same boat?
Of course everybody wants to look good but we shouldn't praise the women who get older and do it successfully and vilify those who aren't so lucky...Renee Zellweger anyone?
So how about we all give each other a break and stop making each other feel bad after we've pressurised them to make the effort to stay young! Let us instead portray realistic role models, rather than unobtainable and photoshopped ones. Unfortunately that means goodbye to the Kardashians, who I'm sure a lot of us will be sad to see go.
Sincerely,
Jenny
