Women are living longer, fulfilling lives. Unfortunately society’s attitude towards menopause, aging, and older women are negative. Menopause is associated as a period of time in which older women experience significant and uncomfortable physical and mental changes such as hot flashes (a.k.a personal summers), depression, headaches, mood swings, vaginal dryness, & night sweats. Menopause should be looked upon as a positive event. It is a time where women are freed from experiencing the monthly “curse”, worrying about spotting, buying tampons/pads, and some women experience an increased libido. Educating about menopause will help women have a better understanding what is going on naturally and dispel any previous misconstrued notions.
Magazines, movies, reality TV generally focus on young, attractive men and women. The appealing nature is what sells and sadly there is a stigma about aging. Top fashion models are considered old at 24 and star athletes are considered old at 33. But being 24 or 33 is considered young when the population is living to be 85 years old. Society view young adults as automatically looking better, can run faster, and generate new and better ideas than older counterparts. Instead older people, especially older women should be look at as wiser individuals who have so much life experiences that they can share. Wrinkles and gray hair should be signs of maturity. Media should portray women in a positive light so all of us women can feel less anxiety as we age.
References:
Biasiotto, J. (2008). 15 Surprising facts about world class athletes. Retrieved on July 11, 2009 from http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:dIbtVUbPEwYJ:strengthplanet.com/other/15-surprising-facts-about-world-class-athletes.htm+average+age+of+athlete+retirement&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us
WebMD. (2009). Sex and menopause. Retrieved on July 11, 2009 from http://www.webmd.com/menopause/guide/sex-menopause
It is a rough world out there! Our society seems as though it is run by our youth as opposed to those who are older and wiser. It would be ideal to get past the superficial layer, and truly examine what matters most. I am quickly approaching the age of 30, and the things I see around me make me want to feel old, when in reality I am decades away from TRULY being "old"!!! Maybe it is the terminology, maybe "old" should just be a bad word... :) You are only as old as you feel, right?
ReplyDeleteWell, I am 34 and I feel really old. Everything around me makes me feel old. I just don't look like a twenty-something year old anymore and its hard to cope with. I never thought that I would have a problem with getting older. But I just want to be 25 again, because that's the standard. I don't like my very few gray hairs and small wrinkles. And I don't like the way my metabolism is really slowing down. There is a lot of pressure out there to try to get back to my twenty-something year old body (size 4 and 112 pounds). Its really not easy, the mannequins in stores are very thin. While the clothes look good displayed on them, I know they won't exactly look the same on me. Need I say, shopping is not as fun as it used to be.
ReplyDeleteI think the media has come a long way as to portraying older women. Hollywood never used to have leading roles for older women and there have been several movies with older women in leading roles in the last several years. I suppose as you get older, you tend to gear your interests towards women that are more mature. I respect and acknowledge the likes of Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Andrea Mitchell, Diane Keaton, and Meg Ryan just to name a few.
ReplyDeleteI am a 44-yr-old woman and I actually embraced turning 40! I don't think I would have thought I would have felt that way when I was in my 20's and 30's. I think the best advice to give is to live in the Now. Time is something we cannot control, however, we do have control of our daily routines and how well we take care of ourselves. That is the only way to ensure how we will feel later years of our lives.
Fantastic! You basically have said what I wanted to say in my blog post... but better! Women should feel empowered when they go through menopause.. its just another stepping stone in life! I realize that I still have a LOT to experience, and I wanna take it all in. We only get to do this once! And I agree that the media needs to do a better job depicting older women as beautiful, because they are!
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
To be honest the best thing in the world to me is to grow older. Age represents wisdom, adventure, and experience. The beauty about being a woman is all throughout our lives we continuously change. No matter societies depiction of what women should look like, we should all cater to our own standards of what agiing well really is.
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