I couldn’t think of what to write about today so I did a quick search for NaBloPoMo blog prompts and I found a list of prompts on BlogHer. Today’s is “Do you enjoy growing old or do you fight against it?”
This is a really interesting question. As a woman of a certain age (ahem) who doesn’t cover the grey hairs that have been popping up since I was 25 or so, I have been called brave. Brave. For not dyeing my hair. Let that sink in. What that comment says to me is that women are expected to conceal their grey, their wrinkles, their stretch marks, any sign of aging and lack of youthful vigor. I think that sucks.
I am not sure I would say that I am enjoying growing old but I still think it is an awful state of affairs that women are discouraged from doing so. The recent hubbub over Renée Zellweger’s face is a good example of the other side of this phenomenon. Not only are we not supposed to age but we are supposed to act like whatever is happening (or not happening) is totally natural. It doesn’t matter if everyone can tell that it’s totally unnatural, apparently, since there don’t seem to be nearly as much commentary about faces that, to me at least, look extremely modified as well.
How do we fix this, I hear you wonder. My suggestion would be to stop dyeing our hair and having our faces nipped and tucked. If we saw more grey hair and wrinkles on women in their 40s we wouldn’t think that those things don’t happen until we are in our 60s.
Vive la grey and wrinkly revolution!
the sheep free knitter 