All power to these women;there’s nothing inherently wrong with trying to promote positive images of ageing. But the problem with Instagram is that the medium is the message. And the message of Instagram,in the words of Will Ferrell inAnchorman,is “Hey everyone,come and see how good I look!”
A movement that aims to be positive ends up reinforcing our obsession with youth because these women look much younger than they actually are.The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino asks, “How had I been changed by an era in which ordinary humans receive daily metrics that appear to quantify how our personalities and our physical selves are performing on the market?”
How does our image-obsessed culture skew the way we celebrate what ageing looks like?
Inner beauty doesn’t get much airtime any more unless it’s an ad for Dove or Telstra but we really should revisit it. “You no longer have to devote time to finding out what you are,you are just free to be whatever you want to be,unimpeded by the incessant needs of others. You somehow grow into the fullness of your humanity,” Nick Cave says about ageing in his recent book with Sean O’Hagan,Faith,Hope,and Carnage.
My grandma’s cousin,the author Nan Hunt,had a cheeky spark in her eyes,even into her ’90s,when she could barely speak. She always looked on the verge of cracking a naughty joke. According to family legend,after she got a double mastectomy,she refused to pay for overpriced implants or inserts and shoved bags of sand in her bra,which sometimes leaked. Her mind was lithe and alive with stories.
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“When I am old,I’ll wear purple…” I love the image of this fabulous older lady from Jenny Joseph’s poemWarning spending her pension on brandy and wearing a red hat that didn’t suit her. Learning how to spit and wearing “terrible shirts”. Instagram would be the last thing on her mind. I want more role models like that,not beautiful older women who manage to look exceptionally young for their age.
It can be difficult to notice the culture we’re swimming in,like fish in water. But can we please just let the elderly get on with their lives without pretending we’re celebrating them when all we’re really doing is worshipping at the altar of youth? You can keep your Botox business card to yourself,I’ll take the granny pants,thanks.
Cherie Gilmour is a freelance writer.
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