It’s the last tolerated prejudice. But Femail’s had enough. It’s time we called out those day-to-day moments when we’re patronised for no longer being young…
Sexism and ageism are two ‘isms’ that can’t help being constantly conflated. When I saw that Paul Rudd (52 years old) was recently voted the Sexiest Man Alive, this thought occurred to me.
Don’t get me wrong, I find Rudd terribly attractive, but would The Sexiest Woman Alive award ever go to a woman of 52? Can you even imagine what kind of judgment that would be elicited if people did this?
Paul Rudd, 52 (pictured), was recently named the Sexiest Man Alive at U.S. celebrities weekly People magazine
It’s such a pernicious double standard and yet it persists because society, however inclusive it thinks it is, has a block about accepting that women past reproductive age can be thought of as ‘sexy’.
In my opinion, this primitive notion that women stop being sexy at a certain age is what links us more to animals than humans, yet we — I — continue to buy into it, ploughing money into potions and lotions and procedures to fool strangers into thinking we — I — might still just, with medical intervention, be able to pop out a baby.
Or that’s what it boils down to. It’s hard to believe that any woman looking in her 50s will ever be awarded this title.
Christa D’Souza (pictured), believes society is influenced by a primitive belief that women cease being sexually attractive at certain ages.