The Case of Disappearing Women Over 40

http://www.beautyredefined.net/anti-aging-and-symbolic-annihilation/

This article discusses the lack of representation of women over 40. Once women pass this specific age they usualy stop being shown in the media in a realistic way. "..people over 40 are drastically underrepresented in all forms of media, despite the fact that they make up the majority of the population." ".. 62 percent of the female population of the U.S. is over 40."Most often they replace them with an unrealistic protrayal through the advertisements, many from aging cream ads. There is a huge business built on making women feel that their value lies solely in their appearance. There are multiple anti-wrinkle creams that women are encouraged to buy to make them look youthful. This is why Plastic surgery is the most profitable industry in the U.S., and Botox is the No. 1 cosmetic treatment. Older women want to look young again and because the media encourages it, they feel insecure about their appearance but they should be feeling confident. Women usually become more confident with their appearance as they get older, these ads encouraging a youthful look create a negative effect on these older women because it makes them unsatisfied by their own appearance.

In addition to this Women are also portrayed in negative ways more often then men are. "Think of the wise, funny, intelligent, “sexy” image represented by men in media well into their 50s, 60s and even later, it isn’t hard to think of a list of examples from past or present. Trying to come up with female equivalents is much more difficult." Women are usually portrayed as "neurotic, crazy, evil, out-of-touch-with-reality characters that are most prominent."
A good example of an older women who is actually portrayed in a positive way is Betty White, she is "truly funny, relatable, positive character in her many roles who isn’t simply the butt of jokes or the domineering mother-in-law."

 Women in film are mostly portrayed positively at a younger age. Many older men in films are usually shown being in relationships with younger women. This sends a negative message that older women should strive to look young so they can look "beautiful". 

 This article shows the many ways that older women are being manipulated and represented in the media, it is important for them to aware of these things and surround themselves with positive messages like the ones included on the Advanced Style blog that encourage people to embrace ageing.

Underrepresented Older Women in the Media

Listen up Vogue and the rest: we want a Mrs Exeter

 Mrs. Exeter  was introduced on the pages of Vogue magazine in 1949 as a woman "approaching 60 … a fact she accepts with perfect good humour and reasonableness". This is something we need today, "an older woman's voice in an iconic fashion magazine". Mrs. Exeter was a positive representation of women getting older and being able to accept it. Mrs. Exeter is interesting because her picture being on the cover of Vogue "coincided with an ageist schism, brought about by the relentless rise of youth culture in the 1960's, which ultimately laid the foundation for our present predicament." 

In the most fashion magazines today we see young women on the covers of almost all iconic fashion magazines. Fashion industries are focusing on the younger generation as their target audience to sell their products to, but the majority of women able to afford their high fashion clothing are mostly women over the age of 40. This article raises the question "Why don't today's fashion magazines find space for older women?" People are increasingly unable to accept aging because of a false belief that someone's beauty disintegrates as they start to get older and gain wrinkles as well as silver hair.

Older faces as icons of beauty, like Mrs. Exeter, need to be brought back to fix the problem of the underrepresented older generation so people can let go of their fear of ageing. As people get older they should be able to look at themselves positively, with confidence and acceptance rather than by fearing what comes with ageing. 

Advanced Style; puting older women first

Advanced Style: the fashion blog that is putting older women first

Advanced style is a fashion blog turned documentary "showcasing one of fashion's most unjustly overlooked demographics: women over 60". Ari Seth Cohen founded the blog Advanced Style in August 2008. He would approach older women on the streets who he felt had a strong sense of style and would photograph them to post it on his blog. 

"Reading Advanced Style, one gets the sense that the women featured see dress, as one subject puts it, as a "supportive act" – that they are, through personal style, demanding to be seen in a society that too often looks past them."

Cohen began to photograph the older women and post them on his blog because he felt that they were extremely undererpesented in the media. He wanted "to help correct what he sees as a fundamental injustice of American culture: the invisibility of older people." He talks to the women he photographs about how they feel about this issue as well; "People are living longer and we're not going to hide in the bushes." says Joyce Carpati in response.

Clothing advertisements are centered more  towards teenagers as their target audience. "The focus is on youth," says Murdock flatly. "Especially in fashion." She doesn't relate to 14- and 15-year-old models in magazines. "They look like kids dressing up in their mothers' clothes." There are not many brands advertising or making products for older women. People are afraid of getting older and embracing their age so more products are being made for young people instead of for the elderly.

"In the United States now, I think we are way more into the idea of being female as a 'girly', sexy thing, rather than embracing women at every stage of life. I mean, an older woman is a 'cougar' if she tries to look good. I think here, more than in any other country that I know of, age is shunned." says Plioplyte. She is from Lithuania, where she says older people are treated with more respect.

 When advertisement choose to show young women and avoid making products that embrace age they are conveying a message that the older people get the less lively and stylish the older they become, but this is not true. These women on Advanced Style have become liberated through aging.

"We all want some kind of approval," says Lynn Dell Cohen, "but I think you have to like yourself first."

"I am not afraid," says Carpati. "That's what age can do for you. It gives you a freedom! I don't care. I must sound outrageous to you, do I? I'm free." 

The Portrayal of Elderly in Media

Being old is not wearisome, it is being stereotyped

This article discusses the steriotypes associated with elderly people that are not always true, like being slow, forgettful, and afraid of technology.

"Stereotypes are sweeping generalisations applied to an entire group of people and, in this case, they are most definitely destructive." Many elderly people don't fit those steriotypes. They are being misrepresented in advertising, TV shows and movies, "..the concept of ''ageing'' carries predominantly negative connotations". 

In many family movies and in mainstream media there is an elderly person that they make fun of for being old and have portrayed them as extremely slow, annoying and useless. Many films tend to portray elderly people in a way that is offensive to them and this can affect how they see themselves. Younger adults also see this portrayal of elderly people and begin to fear getting old and being this slow, inactive person.  

 "advertising should start depicting older people as normal people living normal lives, in roles that should reduce the fear associated with the portrayal of older people as victims." This would allow people to see that getting older doesn't mean your life is over! Many elderly people are in extremely good shape and are doing things anyone else can do. These steriotypes should not mold the image of the future for young people. A change in media portrayal can have a strong effect on this fear that has been forming in many people's minds from a young age from the misrepresentation of what getting old will be like.

Just look at this old man living life.