non-traditional student
i’ve gone back to a post-bac professional school situation at the age of 45. the majority of my cohort are under 30. One wrote a quip about being a ‘closeted middle-aged woman’ because she enjoys knitting, gardening, and baking. I say heck yea that’s ageist.
Heck yeah, and sexist to boot. People of all ages & genders have been known to garden, bake, and knit—not in closets, either.
10/12/17
This post in Lenny, Lena Dunham’s newsletter?
Ageist is an understatement. One litmus test is whether similar comments on the base of race or ethnicity would get a pass. Would Lenny run a story called “My Pain is called José” because it makes me feel lazy, or “Kenisha” because it makes me feel like having a baby at 14, or “Crip” because it makes me walk funny? Starting a story with the line that my pain “makes me feel like an old lady” is no better. "Doris,” too, is bigotry.
Other litmus tests: Does it reinforce negative stereotypes, and/or describes people using terms that they themselves never use? “Doris” makes “frequent, doddering cameos;” although much older, she is "spritely and persistent and can nag at me for days;” She "looks wistfully at fellow elderly citizens in electric wheelchairs. She is grumpy. She complains.” Doris also “totters,” and the writer remains "hopeful she will die before I do.” Plenty of older vaginas work just fine and plan to stay in business to the end. Instead of wishing us into a sexless grave, feminists with platforms like Dunham newsletter partner Jenni Konner ought to encourage younger women to wish us well and to join forces across generations against the double whammy of ageism and sexism.
09/17/17
From Morgan: some olders in an ad that’s not explicitly about being old or young!
Progress!
09/06/17