Women , Society
and Age
“ She wins who calls herself
beautiful and challenges the
world to change to truly see
her…”
Naomi Wolf
Society and its obsession with Women and Age.
My Beautiful Question is about something all women will face at some point – Growing older and
the pressure to stay youthful. I chose this topic because its every where we look, in the movies we
watch , the magazines we read, even the aisles we walk down. Age affects us all but society seems
to place more pressure on women than men now more than ever. Aging is no longer consider
something you do gracefully , its now something you fight as hard as you can. Women are now
suppose to face the loss of youth with grief and pain instead of knowing they have experience and
wisdom on their side. Many men are told and shown from a young age that women are only
desirable and sexy if they are young, skinny and beautiful- and many other superficial qualities.
Magazines that are aimed at young women have articles on how to lose weight , find a man ,
please him etc. And as women age the articles still revolve around these things but now we add in
age and how to stop good old “father time”. Not to mention all the Photoshop. Women are told we
need to get married , have children before a certain age, or it may not happen because the older
we get the chance of “happiness” actually happening get slimmer with every year (this is where the
Old Maid / spinster sister adage/crazy cat lady… comes from ) And lets not forget that loud ever
ticking sound of our “biological clock” (But lets forget about the pesky fact women are capable of
having all of this much later in life now…) even our jobs are affected by our age.
With all the stereotypes and double standards there was so much information available for this
topic. I will say as a woman it makes me angry that in 2013 we have not succeeded much in this
area and that the pressure is greater than ever and YOUNGER than ever. In this Power point I will
highlight a few things that stuck out to me the most.
Did you know that ….
90% of US men and women feel that women are
under a greater pressure to appear young. The survey
also showed that women cross the “old” threshold
about five years sooner than men, who get away with
looking “distinguished” rather than elderly. Men were
even found to peak in physical attractiveness at an
older age than women, around 34 for men in
comparison to 30 for women.
Source Allure magazine / Study by New York Daily news
To prove that age is more than just a number and
more of a way of thinking a study was done by A
British Funeral business (yes of all things) found that
on average, men start to feel old at age 58.
Unfortunately, women start to feel older far earlier —
around age 29. Which is more than a little
depressing. It is believed this though process comes
on the heels of society and the media alluding that
a woman over 30 is “gone out to pasture” and easily
replaced by the next young thing.
Most people would assume that women over the age of 40 would be the most concerned
about aging but as I did my research I found that worrying about aging usually starts at or
before the age of 25. At this point many women will have found that one stray gray hair or
started to notice a change in their skin, some may even begin to see a VERY fine line or two.
This is why the beauty industry steps in and tries to persuade you to try and stop the aging
process as fast as you can.
Many advertisers tell women
to expand the ‘best years’
of the skin by starting their
products , many companies
have created lines targeted
at women in their twenties.
Too Young for Botox???
"I think the greater concern here is when you talk about teenagers or younger women in
their 20s really seeking to prevent the signs of aging, you have to ask yourselves what is their
definition of beauty, and I think we need to be teaching our teenagers that beauty comes
from within, as does health. It's not always so superficial”
** May have to double click to play video**
Every year billions are spent on
anti aging beauty products.
In 2011 the value of this industry
was an estimated 80 Billion its
projected to reach 114 BILLION
by 2015.
The Quest for Youth and beauty by the numbers….
There were are over 13.8 Million Cosmetic Procedures in
2011
Non Surgical –
( Number of procedures / avg cost )
Botox- 5,670,788 / $455
Microdermabrasion- 900,439 / $210
Soft tissue filler- 1,891,158 / $400+
Chemical Peel- 1,110,464 / $780
Surgical –
Forehead Lift- 46,931 / $4,949
Upper Arm Lift- 14,988 / $5,976
Thigh Lift- 9,761 / $7,616
Eyelid Surgery- 196,000 / $4,850
Face Lift- 119,026 / $8,373
Breast Lift- 90,679 / $6,320
The more research I did, the more I wanted to know how people around me felt about age and society
So I asked 20 women between the ages of 19 – 61 the following questions.
( I obtained this info through social media as well in person )
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Do you feel society pressures women to stay young? All 20 women said yes.
Do you feel pressure to dress and act a certain way? 17 women said yes
Would you ever get botox or fillers? 17 women said yes. ( 10 of those women were under 40 )
Would you ever consider plastic surgery? 16 women said yes
Would you actually get plastic surgery? 9 women said yes
Do you think men feel pressure to remain young? 8 women said yes
Do the models/actress in magazines make you feel bad or insecure about how you look? 11 women
said yes
8. Do you own anti aging products 12 women said yes ( this included a 19 year old !! )
9. Do you wear sunscreen? 18 women said yes
10. Do you tan to look better/younger ( this included tanning at beach …) 17 women said yes
11. Do you think there is a double standard with men and women regarding age. 20 women said yes
12. Do you feel looks could affect your job? 13 women said yes
13. Do you think a woman could get passed over for a job if she looked older? 12 women said yes
14. Are you scared to grow old? 16 women said yes
15. Do you think Photoshop creates unrealistic expectations of women? All 20 said yes.
Overall I feel the answers to my questions went along with many of the things I have read in the past few
weeks. For the most part all the women I asked were concerned with aging and hoped they could look as
young as possible for as long as they could and many said they would take drastic measures if they really
needed to.
According to Boston Women's Health Book
“We are subjected to approximately 3,000 advertisements a day
through newspapers, the Internet, magazines, direct mail, and
television. The images reflected in these advertisements almost
always feature thinness and youth as measures of our
importance, success, and sexuality. Because of this pervasive
imagery, we end up comparing our bodies to those of women
who are unusually and sometimes unhealthily thin and often
enhanced by cosmetic surgery. The photos of these women are
also almost always digitally altered. Many of the older women we
see in the media have had cosmetic surgery and other
procedures that mask their real age. Natural-looking women over
age 50 are virtually nonexistent in the mass media, whether in
movies or on the evening news.”
AGEISM AND WOMEN
Women feel the pressure to look young for multiple reasons , to attract the opposite sex , to
compete with women younger than themselves , to boost their self-esteem, to conform to
a society that feels age is something that should be hidden but maybe one that doesn’t
stick out as much but is just as important is to keep their job.
I have learned that Ageism and sexism is alive and well in the workplace , women are no
longer being looked over because they are women but also because of how they look.
Until I started looking at my topic this thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. As a woman
gets older she is less likely to be promoted or if she is unemployed and is over the age of 55
she only has a 12.5% chance of getting hired compared to 24.5% for men over the age of
55. (University of Sydney) There are laws of course that are suppose to protect everyone from
discrimination based on gender , age and so on, but there is a form of unspoken
discrimination going on. Employers will find other reasons to not hire an older worker so
they are not breaking any discrimination laws. Many jobs have a “shelf life” where this
unspoken discrimination happens such as customer service industries , such as the
restaurant industry where many are hired not just based on experience but also looks.
Women are more likely to work in the customer service field than men.
Photoshop, Beauty and Age
Have you ever picked up a magazine and noticed how certain Celebrities/Models almost look
like a completely different person ? Or have absolutely no blemishes or wrinkles?? - they look HALF
their age! Its Like they have found the fountain of youth! Just about every image we see in
magazines , ads , billboards even TV have been altered to become what the industry feels is
pleasing to the eye. The problem with this is it is setting unrealistic expectations of women, age and
beauty and can really affect women of all ages self esteem. Everyday we are seeing a distorted
view of how we should look and trying to figure out what is normal is getting harder and harder.
Which is making the pressure for perfection that much greater.
The following is a website that explains all of this really well and is a great example of how
Photoshop is changing the way we think and view each other. I have added a few of these
pictures in this PP but there are also some great pictures on this site.
http://www.beautyredefined.net/photoshop-phoniness-hall-of-shame/
Some examples of Photoshop
 This is quite the
wrinkle crème!
Works cited
"Beauty Redefined Blog." BEAUTY REDEFINED. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 ,2011
"How Old Is Over the Hill? For Ladies, It’s Younger Than 30." NewsFeed How Old Is Over the Hill For
Ladies Its Younger Than 30 Comments. Time Magazine, 28 Mar. 2011.
"Naomi Wolf Quotes." Naomi Wolf Quotes (Author of The Beauty Myth). N.p., n.d
Sieghart, Mary Ann. "Cosmetic Surgery Is Bad. That Women Feel the Need for It Is Worse – Mary Ann
Sieghart." Mary Ann Sieghart RSS. N.p., 2 Jan. 2013.
"Too Young for Botox?" CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 20 July 2011
"USA TODAY." USATODAY.COM. USA Today, 22 Aug. 2011
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. New York: W. Morrow,
1991. Print.
"At What Age Do Women Start Worrying about Aging?" TODAY. N.p., 12 Oct. 2012.
"Magazines' Youthful Ideal Threatens Real Women's Sexuality." LiveScience.com. N.p., 12 June 2011.