OK, here’s a spin on the “Fat vs. Thin” thread. Besides being innundated with images of thin people, we are equallly barraged with images of the YOUNG, fresh and dewy! As a middle-aged lady, I find this depressing. By the way (plug here!), I work for “More,” a bimonthly magazine aimed at over-40 women.
I’m getting to the age where I notice that everything is an inch or two lower than it used to be. I’m becoming “invisible” to men. Mr. Metabolism has skidded to a halt. I can’t wear kicky clothes anymore or I risk looking like “mutton dressed up as lamb.” I am determined to age gracefully (Lillian Gish! Helen Hayes! Katharine Hepburn!) and not hang desperately onto youth (Mae West! Joan Rivers!).
They age better—more gracefully—in Europe, I’ve noticed. Chic, beautifully dressed older men and women, with natural white hair. How about you folks—do you get annoyed at the Youth Culture in this country? Is it getting worse, or easing up?
I’m just old enough to start recognizing the loss of my youth. Unfortunately I think we’re stuck with the Youth Culture you described.
Europe is old and stodgy while the US is young and vibrant. Europeans look better when they age than Americans probably because they don’t desperately try and hang-on to youth (ala Joan Rivers). All-in-all I find Europeans to be more pragmatic than Americans.
The fat vs. thin debate is interesting in that some cultures find ‘fat’ people more desirable than thin ones. There are only two measures of beauty that hold up across ALL cultures – Health and Youth.
Still, there might be hope as Baby Boomers fill the ranks of the aged. Maybe they can sway the culture a bit…
Since I’ve never adopted a socially fashionable appearance or lifestyle, it really doesn’t bug me. I dress and act to please myself. If you don’t like it, you can bite me.
The young have health, energy and time. Let them live their life and enjoy it to the fullest. If you don’t like the message of a magazine or TV show, then don’t buy it. If you don’t like an ad, don’t buy the product.
But my guiding philosophy in life is to try to live my life for myself according to my own taste, with no excuses or apologies to anyone.
I get annoyed being off everyone demographics lists. I don’t write in protest if a radio or tv station takes off a show I want or whatever, because I know they simply don’t care what I think. They want the attention and money of the my kid. The fact that it’s my money they’re talking about isn’t part of the equation. Talk about being invisible.
Well, I wish I could blame the fact that I am not an object of desire to the young ladies on my advancing age, but that would ignore the evidence that their lack of interest was just as fervent during my prime
Personally, I can’t say that it bothers me much at all. I can’t say whether the media demographics were as skewed toward youth when I was young as it is today, but if it was I didn’t notice it. My kids certainly don’t notice it now. Either way, the skew is a result of the business decisions adults are making, so if we are experiencing cultural marginalization it is self-perpetrated.
One point to make here is that most of the perceived youth skew is in the area of pop culture. In other words, the most short lived and disposable things produced- TV, music, movies, magazines, and fashionable clothing- are the ones aimed at the young. Things that are very high turnover, low dollar are targeted at the teens because they are the ones spending the lion’s share of their income on just those items. When it comes to durable goods, the less showy and glitzy things in life, teens don’t enter into the picture.
