NEWSFLASH - OLDER WOMEN ROCK TOO!

Am I Alone in Thinking …?  

Unpublished letters to the Daily Telegraph (Aurum)

 SIR I have finally come to the conclusion that my 73 year old mother has become a born-again teenager.

She sleeps until all hours in the morning, never does any work and plays the television and radio far too loudly.

Her driving is atrocious (as is that of most of her friends), although she will never admit it or that she is ever in the wrong.Her dress sense has stayed the same for so long it’s actually come back into fashion. Whenever I suggest something she ignores it, until one of her friends says exactly the same thing. Then it becomes a great idea.Many of her friends drink far too much and they are nearly all on drugs (they would claim medical, not narcotic – but I reserve judgement on that).

All in all, I think she’s just at that difficult age.

I have pinched this letter from a little book I found in a charity shop, because although old fashioned in some of its expressions, it contains more than a grain of truth.  That ‘grain’ contains the reality that older people do indeed think and behave in a similar way to their youthful counterparts. The parallel is not due to some kind of regression, but simply because one’s characteristics and behavioural qualities do not disappear with age.  In fact they become more apparent.  This is due to the increase in confidence and communication skills that come with both experience and the knowledge that what other people think of us is given so much less importance than in our younger years.  In other words, we don’t give a damn what they think.

It is my mission to change the public perception of those of us over 50/60/70 and so on and even if one lone not well known voice is not enough to fight this battle, I’m still going to start the ball rolling.   I want to show you that older women can be models, dancers, film stars, explorers, athletes, the list is almost endless.  The sickeningly popular expression that we can ‘be anything we want if we follow our dreams’ should apply to all ages, but in reality it doesn’t. There is a huge gap in the world of the famous, the high achievers, the stars, the sex symbols because it doesn’t include enough older women. I am focusing on women rather than men because generally, older men seem to me to be more highly respected and regarded in these high profile roles.   Of course there are older women who have achieved these heights due to fame achieved in their younger years, but for those women who may wish to pursue their cherished ambitions from a later starting point, there is a massive wall in front of them.  That wall is ageism and I want to knock it down.

Who built this wall?  Why, if a woman is not young, is she regarded as not castable (something I was told more than once)not worth hiring,not  glamourous enough,not  sexual ?  Where do the negative vibes come from?  How do we banish the idea that older women are not sexy, not attractive, not visible even?  I am not sure I have all the answers, but if enough of us use our voices in any public way we can, perhaps the media and the public will sit up and listen.

I for one will keep trying until something changes. Why?  Because I and all you other older attractive, experienced and talented women out there, deserve better. Life after youth should contain more, not less.  It should involve new experiences, excitement, worthwhile relationships, glamour and indeed career success. Later years are only seen as ‘downhill’ because the negative image has been around too long. Lets get out there and prove them wrong.   Vive la change!