Credit: madonna-pix

“Madonna’s hands (50) look older than her face!”

“Anna Wintour (59) looks OLD when you magnify her photos to the point of discomfort!”

“Brigitte Bardot (73) is not a bombshell anymore!”

The media is ridiculously obsessed with using the strength of today’s digital cameras to photograph aging female celebrities up close and show us that as you get older, the plumpness and smoothness you used to have in your twenties are gone.

Brigitte Bardot seems to be the worst offender, because while others are cosmetically enhancing their faces, leaving mostly their hands to disclose their real age, Bardot simply refuses plastic surgery. The nerve! “Gone was the trademark pout and cascading blond locks, to be replaced by sagging jowls covered in heavy make-up and a wiry, unkempt patch of graying hair.”

Brigitte Bardot, young and old. 1968, age 34. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons ; 2006, age 72. Photo credit: John W. Macdonald

Oh PLEASE. Brigitte Bardot is 73 years old. This is what aging looks like when you don’t have plastic surgery or dye your hair. Our notion of what aging looks like has become completely warped because of cosmetic surgery and Botox.

Have you seen Nicole Kidman lately? This is a photo of her from 2006. The actress, who was 39 years old when the photo was taken, looks at least ten years younger than her chronological age. She’s absolutely gorgeous, but people need to realize that a lot of money and effort has been poured into looking so smooth and plump when you’re almost 40. Of course, she’s often criticized for what seems to be her liberal use of Botox. You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.

Photo credit: mikegoat

Speaking of wrinkled skin and sagging jowls, Dustin Hoffman, 71, looks old too. Anyone care to write an article about HIS wrinkly appearance?

Photo credit: wvs

And look at Brad Pitt – he seems to have lost his youthful plumpness, maybe even gained a few pounds. Anyone feels like making fun of HIM?

Older Brad Pitt by wvs. Younger Brad Pitt by vstyds.

I didn’t think so.

The pure glee with which these articles are written confuses me, because WE ARE ALL AGING. Why would you make fun of someone for going through a completely natural process – one you’re going through as well?

Ageism, when directed at women, remains the last acceptable form of discrimination in our society. It’s no longer acceptable to criticize people because of their religion, their sexual preference, their weight or their race, but it’s fine – even fun – to berate a 73 years old woman for looking her age.

This photo of me was taken last year in Marseilles, France. Look at those hands! They sure weren’t so veiny when I was 20. Well guess what, I AM NOT TWENTY. I AM 37. I work out, as I should, I am strong and healthy, and since my hands are losing fat layers due to aging, my veins show, especially when it’s hot. What exactly am I supposed to do? Stop exercising? Cover myself with long sleeves regardless of the weather? (Vogue Magazine seems to think this is an acceptable solution).

And what should I do as my face progressively shows more signs of aging? Hide behind scarves and sunglasses? Resort to Botox injections and expensive, painful, risky plastic surgery? How do you think the media makes me feel about my own aging? How does it make YOU feel?

By allowing ageism, we have allowed aging to become something women are ashamed of. It makes absolutely no sense.

Brigitte Bardot is not a bombshell anymore, but she is a beautiful woman. She lives her life passionately, refuses to undergo plastic surgery, and when she announces a press conference, she can still pack a room.

If this is not aging gracefully, then I don’t know what is.

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