Stay Young & Beautiful?

Joanna Lumley is 64 next month and I adore her (in my fantasies I pretend I look like her!) I like  her even more after reading her her comments in the current edition of the Radio Times.

I don’t usually buy the Radio Times ; my son gave me a copy, correctly predicting that the front page heading of ‘WOMEN POWER’ would be of interest to me, and he was right! It’s full of some interesting articles about being an older woman in our society. And as I am an older woman in our society, I was hooked.

BBC and Discrimination

It’s a well documented fact that women are discriminated against on grounds of looks (i.e. stay young forever and you’re OK) or just plain discrimination (Radio 4 producer saying women can’t ask the tough questions) but this article provides some evidence that the tide is beginning slowly to turn.

Says Joanna:
” I can’t talk generally about women, but no one patronises them like …journalists.  Because a lot of magazines are sold on fear (I presume she means all the guff on stopping getting old and the cult of thin), and women have been made to be very afraid. I couldn’t love men more but women have been second class citizens since time began,”

And later on in the interview:
“If you don’t look good, you’re out. But only women. Men can look like dogs’ bottoms“.

Your Thoughts

What do you think? I have referred to what I call ‘femageism‘ before and it is well illustrated in the world of TV and magazines.  Is this just an issue in the media? Have you ever worked anywhere where there was a different standard between men and women? Do you feel pressurised to look a certain way? I’d love to know what you think and hear about your experiences.

You can read more about that article by clicking this link.