Good Morning Fashionistas & Stylinistas;
Have you ever noticed how many of the great things in life deal with age being an advantage? Wine, the perfect whiskey, perfectly aged Brie. a certain steak? Well, I believe the same logic should apply to women. Notice, I said should, not does. It is an unfortunate fact of life that women in ALL cultures are marginalized. Now I know many of you of other cultures may reject my statement by reminding me that their elder women get a lot of 'honor', or 'respect', etc, etc., however, one has only to look at our 'trophy wives', all photographic advertising, all broad based employment studies, etc., etc., etc., to face the fact that this so called honor, respect, etc. really matters very little to society except within certain small family groupings.
One of our famous women's liberation icons, Charlotte Whitton made the often cited quote that a woman had to perform twice as well as a man to be thought half as good to receive any recognition whatsoever. (she also said that fortunately, that was not hard) It is still true that after all our "equality" laws,whatever, the average pay for women doing comparable jobs is still only about 78% (depending upon which source you read, a little less). It is also still true that for all the outrage against discrimination by the various races, gender identities, etc., the only discrimination that is still actively practiced and accepted by ALL of these categories is the discrimination against women; it is still the only one openly acknowledged even by some of our Christian churches (some churches still insist in "obey" as part of their marriage services and openly use terms such as "submit", refuse women equal opportunity within the heirarchy...need I say more?) It is still tragic that women can be pressured to believe they are less than a man; case in point: I see women pictured in race riots, I see them in gender riots, but when is the last time you heard of a woman's discrimination riot?
My fellow female blogger, Judith Boyd, authored a recent post on the older woman being 'invisible' to society at large (stylecrone.com). I agree with the article in almost all areas although I do have one point I would like to make regarding this invisibility. Because it is demonstratively obvious that all women are still discriminated against, and I believe, will continue to be so for many more years, it is much more important for the aging woman to pay more attention to the presentation she makes to the world than for a younger woman. Gloria Steinem (sp?), another icon of the women's liberation movement also made a significant point when she stated that men tend to gain power as they grow older but a woman loses power as she ages. This is especially true in economic power. Everything from Social Security, retirement plans and investment accounts is usually less for a woman than a man. Many woman, especially the aged who usually are in more straitened circumstances as she ages needs to retain all the power she can. Tragically, the most discouraging fact is the examples I see almost every year of discrimination against an aged woman by a much younger woman who will become a member of the same category.
"Rocking age" requires some power; presentation of self is a valuable tool to be used as much as prevention or lessening of social and financial power as for our personal sense of well being. One great advantage most women can have in aging is the knowledge of there own bodies and of what looks best on them. For the most part they are not slaves to the latest fashion quirks as are so many younger women. We can use our acquired fashion experience to enhance our physical assets and to know that we can continue to look good in spite of our more mature age.....Let's continue to Rock Our Age, or if you feel you do not now, maybe it is time to start. We owe it to ourselves. ...................Geneva...............Rockmyages@aol.com
One of our famous women's liberation icons, Charlotte Whitton made the often cited quote that a woman had to perform twice as well as a man to be thought half as good to receive any recognition whatsoever. (she also said that fortunately, that was not hard) It is still true that after all our "equality" laws,whatever, the average pay for women doing comparable jobs is still only about 78% (depending upon which source you read, a little less). It is also still true that for all the outrage against discrimination by the various races, gender identities, etc., the only discrimination that is still actively practiced and accepted by ALL of these categories is the discrimination against women; it is still the only one openly acknowledged even by some of our Christian churches (some churches still insist in "obey" as part of their marriage services and openly use terms such as "submit", refuse women equal opportunity within the heirarchy...need I say more?) It is still tragic that women can be pressured to believe they are less than a man; case in point: I see women pictured in race riots, I see them in gender riots, but when is the last time you heard of a woman's discrimination riot?
My fellow female blogger, Judith Boyd, authored a recent post on the older woman being 'invisible' to society at large (stylecrone.com). I agree with the article in almost all areas although I do have one point I would like to make regarding this invisibility. Because it is demonstratively obvious that all women are still discriminated against, and I believe, will continue to be so for many more years, it is much more important for the aging woman to pay more attention to the presentation she makes to the world than for a younger woman. Gloria Steinem (sp?), another icon of the women's liberation movement also made a significant point when she stated that men tend to gain power as they grow older but a woman loses power as she ages. This is especially true in economic power. Everything from Social Security, retirement plans and investment accounts is usually less for a woman than a man. Many woman, especially the aged who usually are in more straitened circumstances as she ages needs to retain all the power she can. Tragically, the most discouraging fact is the examples I see almost every year of discrimination against an aged woman by a much younger woman who will become a member of the same category.
"Rocking age" requires some power; presentation of self is a valuable tool to be used as much as prevention or lessening of social and financial power as for our personal sense of well being. One great advantage most women can have in aging is the knowledge of there own bodies and of what looks best on them. For the most part they are not slaves to the latest fashion quirks as are so many younger women. We can use our acquired fashion experience to enhance our physical assets and to know that we can continue to look good in spite of our more mature age.....Let's continue to Rock Our Age, or if you feel you do not now, maybe it is time to start. We owe it to ourselves. ...................Geneva...............Rockmyages@aol.com
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