While reading the last two questions in a New York Times interview with Linda Rodin where the interviewer asked how she felt about “young women dyeing their hair gray” and “aging gracefully”, I couldn’t help but feel upset. Why is it that nearly every article I read about older women brings up youth and appearance. It’s 2016. Ask us about something else. Not all of us are sitting around in fits of nostalgia, feeling sorry for ourselves and our newfound wrinkles. I’m looking for media outlets where there is no prejudice, but there aren’t that many out there!

And why is it that older men are never asked about “aging gracefully”? When the media keeps sharing secrets on how to “age gracefully”, it is inherently condescending. Why not focus on aging grate-fully, which is a big part of my SoAgeless spirit. Instead of pretending to have a secret recipe for growing younger, or worse, accepting aging as if it’s a slow end to life, I celebrate it every way I can. Aging is a gift, so let’s open it up and celebrate! Women can “age gracefully”, but that term focuses too much on appearance. I want to focus on being grateful for everything I have today as a complete person – wrinkles and all!

The stirring issue here is that most magazine editors are themselves over 50, as are most advertisers and beauty company executives. While a lot of them have stakeholders to please, they are in positions of power to be able to shift this mindset, even if it’s only a slight shift. But they continue to feed into the youth-obsessed society, promoting self-ageism to the extreme instead of promoting an inter-generationally inclusive society that celebrates the ageless beauty of the 50+ woman.

Please comment and share if you agree that the media must stop promoting these type of articles, especially those that only focus on the appearance of an older woman. If you where being interviewed what would you like to be asked that’s not about staying young? Or if you were a media executive, how would you make a change?