Essay 1700 words

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Veronica Andrew

Rhetoric 110

Professor Andrew

20 April 2020

The Lady Vanishes: Women, Media, and Aging

Introduction. “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may/Old time is still a-flying;/and this

same flower that smiles today/Tomorrow will be dying,” wrote 17th Century English poet

Robert Herrick. The message in the poem is clear: young women should marry while they can,

because love becomes unlikely when age begins to show. Though this verse was uttered

hundreds of years ago, its message is still alive and well and has evolved into a steadfast

principle of Western capitalism and culture—youth is beauty—and this sentiment is present

wherever women are visible. Fashion and entertainment magazines demonstrate to us that it is

much easier for a female model to find work when she is in her teens and twenties than when

her age begins to show. Seasoned, accomplished actresses frequently tell stories of roles and

job offers disappearing as they age into their late 30s and 40s. And evidence of these prejudices

seeping into social practices and preferences; one often hears the phrase “silver fox” used to

describe an available, single older man, while their female counterparts are categorized as

“spinster” and “cat lady.” In fact, age tends to diminish women’s perceived attractiveness to

nearly nothing. In a study of online dating app behaviors, University of Michigan researchers

determined that women “peak” (receive the most messages) at 18 and decline every age year

afterward, while men peak at 50 (Salaam). As a consequence, the American capitalism-driven

media sends mixed messages to older women about their cultural positioning. On one hand, it

warns these women to cling to their youth with familiar terms like “age-defying,” “wrinkle

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cream,” and “chemical peel”; on the other, it praises their accumulated wisdom and intelligence

and envies the freedom possible outside the spotlight. Older women’s responses to these

messages are mixed, both expected and instructive. Thesis: While both health and beauty

media sites stigmatize the changes of aging, and a credible medical source uses that stigma to

argue for healthy habits, literary, high-culture sources celebrate the gained wisdom and

empowerment that women experience as they grow older.

Media analysis 1. Health-oriented web publications that discuss women’s responses to

aging describe both physical and mental decline, sometimes associated with lifestyle. For

instance, the popular Women’s Health Magazine, in its most recent age-related article, urges

women to prevent physical signs of aging by following the example of a popular actress: “5

Things Julianne Moore Does to Make 59 Look Like 39.” Throughout the selection, Moore

describes various lifestyle practices that she believes have helped her look 20 years younger,

including following a meticulous skin care routine, adhering to a particular diet, and avoiding

the sun completely. She relates, “I put the sunscreen on, and I don't go into the sun. And

honestly, that's really it…I can’t even take the light because of my eyes. I do it to my husband

all the time where he’ll be like, ‘I’m cold’ but then I’m like, ‘Let’s walk in the shade.’” She

also avoids eating at outdoor restaurant tables: “I hate it… You’re baking in the sun.” (qtd. in

Spruch-Feiner). Women’s Health makes it clear that one must choose between extraordinary

measures, including a religious avoidance of sun, and the intolerable prospect of looking one’s

age. The use of actress Julianne Moore as an expert suggests to the reader that, despite the word

“health” in its title, this magazine does not offer actual health advice, but instead capitalizes on

women’s vanity and our culture’s obsession with celebrity in order to sell magazines wherein

celebrities provide safeguards against unattractiveness. In addition, publications that are even

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more specifically medically-oriented also reinforce the supposed decline of women’s health—in

both physical and emotional aspects. Medical information website Contemporary Ob/Gyn, in

its article “Older Women Are Consuming More Alcohol,” observes an increase in heavy alcohol

consumption in women who are 45-64 years old, and hypothesize as to the causes: “While the

authors note that the reasons for the increase in high-risk drinking are not completely

understood, they suggest that the increase could be related to stress from work, stress from

retirement, financial pressures, empty nest, or challenges associated with menopause”

(Schwartz). Again, an inability to cope with age-related transitions is emphasized. This

publication characterizes aging women as heavy drinkers, self-medicating because of the

presumed struggles of midlife--economic hardship, leaving the workforce, and departed

children—without documentation of the true causes. Both these health publications paint a dim

view of aging women, who hide from the sun and drink, regretting their circumstances.

Media analysis 2. Beauty-themed media sources stigmatize signs of aging and

encourage women to do what is necessary to look as young as they can. In an article describing

a staff writer’s coming to terms with aging, international style magazine Vogue offers

reassurance: “In this day and age, looking fresh and vital is not just a matter of vanity but also

professional survival. Luckily, a proliferation of next-generation noninvasive cosmetic

procedures—futuristic lasers, nimble fillers, and resurfacing treatments—offer… subtle

refreshment without the scalpel. The concept is highly appealing to cosmetic surgery virgins

like writer Jancee Dunn, who… wrestles with turning 50….” (Ellenberg). Vogue states plainly

that looking younger is vital to professional success, implying that “noninvasive” skin

treatments to delay visible aging are necessary for any woman, regardless of her

accomplishments. Equally well-known beauty publication Harper’s Bazaar presents a similar

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argument in a narrative entitled “Waking Up Middle Aged,” written by a woman who re-

evaluates her appearance after a law school reunion: “My 44-year-old face requires at least

some eye makeup and a hint of concealer, and I won't ever — ever — go gray. Borrowing from

my teenage daughter's closet, while not entirely out of the question, demands restraint….

Dressing my age…no longer demands a wardrobe of knits and cashmere sweater sets, but

neither should it mean faded jeans every day. And it most certainly means I have to change after

yoga, however cute I think I look in my boot-cut hip-hugger stretch pants” (Waldman). In this

case, Bazaar shows that a woman’s struggle to come to terms with aging is resolved with

makeup and hair dye. However, she should not transgress by wearing a young woman’s

wardrobe—apparently, with her clothing, she must “act her age.” In these publications, aging

women are taught that they must look younger in order to succeed socially and professionally,

even if their credentials include high-profile fashion journalist or successful attorney.

Media analysis 3. While health and beauty websites grapple with supposed hardships of

aging, literary publications present older women as autonomous and rebellious, taking

advantage of marginalization and abandoning conventions. These sources argue that aging is

not a tragedy but a time of liberation, a moment of shrugging off conventions applied to women

throughout their younger lives. The Atlantic article “The Invisibility of Older Women”

discusses the potential power of women who find themselves aging into the margins. Author

Akiko Busch describes a familiar reality: “The invisible woman might be the actor no longer

offered roles after her 40th birthday, the 50-year-old woman who can’t land a job interview, or

the widow who finds her dinner invitations declining with the absence of her husband” (Busch).

However, she posits, this invisibility can be a moment of transformation, and she quotes

psychologist Alison Carper: “As humans, we all need to be recognized…but as we grow older,

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the manner of recognition we search for can change. A subject is someone who experiences her

own agency, who is aware of how she can and does have an impact on others and how she is,

ultimately, the author of her own life. She is aware of the responsibility this carries” (qtd in

Busch). The Atlantic confronts what beauty publications encourage women to deny: as a

woman ages, she fades from the public gaze. However, the article frames this invisibility as an

opportunity to do what she wants to do, empowering herself and redefining her relatinoships.

While the beauty and health publications define the loss of youth as a detriment, more literary,

high-culture publications envision growing older as an adventurous time of discovery.

Credible Source. An examination of a credible medical source reveals a perspective

similar to popular health and beauty magazines: the aging process in women is a time of

decline, and something to be fought. Mayo Clinic, a world-renowned American health

organization, frames the aging process as a loss of fitness, albeit more scientifically than the

popular health and beauty magazines. Their 2019 website article “Menopause Weight Gain:

Stop the Middle-Age Spread,” provides a comprehensive list of factors that contribute age-

related weight gain, complications that can accompany it, and ways to prevent it. The clinic

warns women against the additional pounds or “spread” that can be a part of aging, as they

increase risks for breathing problems, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers (Mayo

Clinic Staff). The discussion of prevention emphasizes lifestyle causes: “Hormonal changes

alone don't necessarily cause menopause weight gain. Instead, the weight gain is usually related

to aging, as well as lifestyle and genetic factors…. Lack of exercise, unhealthy eating and not

enough sleep, might contribute to menopause weight gain” (Mayo Clinic Staff). The article also

provides a long list of lifestyle change recommendations—eating a plant-based diet, limiting

sugar and alcohol, and exercise—and concludes with, “Remember, successful weight loss at

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any stage of life requires permanent changes in diet and exercise habits. Commit to lifestyle

changes and enjoy a healthier you,” (Mayo Clinic Staff). In this case, women are encouraged

to adopt healthy lifestyle habits, but instead of providing medical reasons for them, the Mayo

Clinic focuses on the stigma attached to weight gain in order to be persuasive. Though the

advice is certainly sound, and the health outcomes would undoubtedly be beneficial, the focus

on attractiveness reinforces the notion that beauty is the most important priority for women.

Synthesis. A synthesis of the media messages and a credible medical source

demonstrates a correlation between popular media sources and medical source’s pessimistic

view of aging, and a conflict with the literary magazine’s positive portrayal of empowerment.

Though articulated more scientifically, and with reliable medical advice, the Mayo Clinic

assumes that most women will want to avoid the appearance of aging and its beauty-standard

oriented signs. In this way, it reflects the health-oriented popular magazines, which describe

aging as an unfortunate process that causes decline in both the body and the mind, but can be

controlled with lifestyle changes. It also reflects the beauty magazines, which categorize women

by ages and emphasize the need to avoid physical signs of growing older—although it stops

short of recommending plastic surgery or other drastic measures. The literary source is alone in

its vision of aging as a time of increased power and freedom; in fact, it is the only source that

has anything positive to say about women aging at all. The implication of this synthesis seems

to be that priority of beauty, as the most important factor in femininity, so saturates American

thinking that even credible sources cannot avoid trading with it. A culture that considers

women nothing more than measures of traditional attractiveness makes it difficult for any

sources of information, even reliable, well-intentioned ones to escape its grasp. However, high-

culture magazines like the Atlantic may have more influence in the future. Such magazines tend

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to be thought of as progressive and important, and their re-considering of women aging as a

time of transformation will undoubtedly start discussion. A popular voice that invites women to

step away from rigid beauty standards gives the public a new way to perceive women as they

grow older.

Though intellectually oriented media sources have begun to feature the positive aspects

of growing older, media sources that emphasize beauty and health present a very one-sided

view of women’s attractiveness. The reason is not difficult to guess: appearance-based websites

and magazines are meant to create feelings of inadequacy in order to sell beauty products and

cosmetics, an industry that generates millions of dollars every year. And these considerable

profits are not the only consequences. The CDC reports that women between age 40 and 59

have the highest rates of depression in any gender and age-based group in the U.S. (qtd. in

Gholipour). Though there may be many factors, it is difficult to imagine that the media’s

relentlessly judgmental voices do not contribute to this problem. However, the media can also

be useful in this way. It also publishes such phenomena as growing number of girls with eating

disorders, the emerging problem of plastic surgery addiction, and other indicators of the harmful

internalization of idealized beauty. Perhaps, if the spotlight shifts enough to include these

issues, and continues to highlight the value in women’s unique experiences and voices, the

damaging messages will begin to recede into the shadows.

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Works Cited

Busch, Akiko. “The Invisibility of Older Women.” Atlantic Magazine. 27 Feb 2019. Web.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/02/akiko-busch-mrs-dalloway-

shows-aging-has-benefits/583480 Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

Ellenberg, Celia. “Here’s What Happened When One Woman Got 15 Cosmetic Procedures in

12 Months”. Vogue. 20 Dec. 2017. https://www.vogue.com/ article/anti-aging-

cosmetic-procedures-jancee-dunn-filler-botox-lasers. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

Mayo Clinic Staff. “Menopause Weight Gain: Stop the Middle Age Spread.” Mayo Clinic. 31

July 2019. Web. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/womens-health/in-

depth/menopause-weight-gain/art-20046058

Salaam, Maya. “For Online Daters, Women Peak at 18 While Men Peak at 50, Study Finds.

Oy.” New York Times. 15 August 2018. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/

2018/08/15/style/dating-apps-online-men-women-age.html. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

Spruch-Feiner, Sara. “5 Things Julianne Moore Does to Make 59 Look Like 39.” Women’s

Health Magazine. 9 Feb 2020. Web. https://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty

/a30794473/julianne-moore-skincare-routine/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

Schwarz, Ben. “Older Women Are Consuming More Alcohol.” Contemporary Ob/Gyn. 10

Oct. 2019. Web. https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/ article/older-women-are-

consuming-more-alcohol. Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.

Waldman, Ayelet. “Waking Up Middle Aged.” Harpers Bazaar. 15 Oct. 2009.

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a437/look-younger-middle-age-1109/.

Accessed 6 Apr. 2020.