Blog Posts - age and gender

19, Going on 90

April 24, 2017 By Ashton Applewhite
Here’s a note that came to me recently from a reader of my Q&A blog, Yo, Is This Ageist? She wrote that:

The other day I was eating lunch with my best friend, when out of the blue she asks me if she was getting neck wrinkles. Since we are both 19, I laughed at her question and told her no. However, she was not convinced and stated that she was going to ask her parents for anti-aging serum in her stocking for Christmas.  Read more...

Beating the Age Barrier in Online Dating

August 20, 2015 By Ashton Applewhite
A wedding announcement in the New York Times recorded the happy pairing of a couple who met through America’s Test Kitchen. He had founded the TV show and hired her ten years earlier. He was 62; she was 37. The announcement ended with this paragraph:

Both say they have never really given much thought to the difference in their ages. “Others may have concerns, but we don’t,” he said. “I’m in love with someone who sees the same potential in the universe as I do.”

 Read more...

An Old Lesbian Reacts to the Supreme Court Decision on Same-Sex Marriage

July 11, 2015 By Margaret Cruikshank
Like others my age, I never expected my country to end my second-class-citizen status. The swiftness of the movement from gay rights legislation to same-sex marriage in some states to the June 26, 2015, ruling for marriage in all states takes my breath away. Yes, the Supremes were expected to rule as they did. And the vile comments by Justice Antonin Scalia remind everyone that bigotry has not been vanquished. But what a time of celebration for people who, when I was young, were judged sick or sinful or both, and in my middle age were struggling against long odds for basic civil rights.  Read more...

Is a Generation of Powerful Women Turning Age into an Advantage? Not Exactly

July 07, 2015 By Ashton Applewhite
"Could the current cohort of eminent women in their 60s herald an era when aging, for women, ceases to be an enemy, and even becomes a friend?” asks Liza Mundy in the recent issue of the Atlantic.  Read more...

Caitlyn Jenner: the Messages in the Image

June 22, 2015 By Margaret Morganroth Gullette
What the commentators fail to say about Caitlyn Jenner is that when she came out as a woman publicly in Vanity Fair recently, she did not come out as an older woman.  Read more...

Baring All for a Good Cause

April 10, 2015 By Flora Davis
The other day, a friend told me she planned to leave her body to a medical school when she died so that students could dissect it to learn anatomy. She wanted to know whether I’d consider doing the same thing.  Read more...

Oscar Winner Takes Hollywood to Task for Sexism and Ageism

March 13, 2015 By Megan Kearns
On February 22, 2015, Patricia Arquette used the Oscar stage to advocate for gender wage equality and women’s rights during her acceptance speech for best supporting actress (Boyhood, 2014): "To every woman who gave birth to every citizen and taxpayer of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America."  Read more...

Ageist Tropes Taint American Horror Story: Coven

December 10, 2014 By Megan Kearns
It’s rare for women over the age of 50 to find starring work in Hollywood, unless one is Meryl Streep or Judi Dench. So I was intrigued to watch American Horror Story: Coven on FX, which features not one but three stellar actresses in their 60s (and one in her 50s): Jessica Lange (Fiona), Kathy Bates (Delphine), Frances Conroy (Myrtle) and Angela Bassett (Marie).  Read more...

Age and Beauty on the Big Screen

October 31, 2014 By Megan Kearns
In a 2012 interview on NPR’s All Things Considered, director and actor Sarah Polley spoke about her film, Take This Waltz. She discussed how we need more female directors and the unique perspective they can bestow on female characters. She also spoke eloquently on the sexist portrayal of women’s bodies on-screen:  Read more...

Are Men an Endangered Species?

September 12, 2013 By Flora Davis
Why is it that almost everywhere on the planet women outlive men? And how come that’s been true for centuries, at least in Europe, even though childbirth used to be a really risky proposition? These questions grabbed me while I was researching an article on life expectancy for SCF.  Read more...

Do Old Ladies Make World History?

February 02, 2013 By Victoria Robinson
Who influences history and how do we weigh that influence? Do we have biases about who qualifies as a “history maker”? When we read about historic events, for example, do we acknowledge the ages of the participants? Do some people count more than others?  Read more...