age and beauty, plus some pondering on beuty in general

[Crystal_Cat]

I find many of these posts showing gorgeous celebrities in their 50s kind of - for lack of a better word - ironic. Most of those women have had plastic surgery and dermatology work to make themselves look younger. It is an unrealistic image of women in that age group because most cannot afford that. They are still promoting a fear of aging as they actively fight against it to stay "beautiful" in the eyes of the public. Not saying there is anything inherently wrong with cosmetic enhancements but pictures of women like that do not empower "older" women at all.

I think the problem is that we associate beauty with sexual attractiveness. Of course, we are all biologically inclined to view youth as more sexually attractive but sex has become such a huge part of our culture, that we have put too high a value on sex appeal. Once a woman loses it she is devalued in society and no longer considered "beautiful." I don't know how we could undo the brainwashing but I know posting pictures of artificially enhanced middle aged women is not the way.

Let's talk about real women and what makes them beautiful, not celebrities -- There was an older woman that i met at the climbing gym a few weeks ago. Grey hair, crows feet, age spots, about 30 extra pounds, etc but what made her beautiful was her energy and presence. She was climbing some friggin bad ass routes and showing up all the younger women there. She just had this glow and confidence and poise to her that i think comes with age and life experience.

 

[IsabellaSnow]

As much as I agree that posting pictures of some women who have access to enough money that even if they haven't had surgery they have the options of many other treatments, expensive products, personal trainers etc which mean that they look, well, like 30 year olds who happen to be 50 year olds doesn't really stand for a healthy idea of an "older woman". I will say that I know a fair amount of very youthful, sexy, vibrant women who are above 40 and who haven't got any access to the kind of resources of a celebrity. These women if I posted photos of them do not have age spots, wrinkles etc. Not all women are wrinkly at those ages. I've seen photos of my grandmother in her late 60s wearing hot pants with like crazily toned tanned legs, legs better than most 20 year olds. My mother is another example of someone who still models for magazines and naturally has no wrinkles. One of my mothers friends who used to walk a lot would always get women 10 years younger than her sighing and saying "well it's ok at your age".
Most people do not age as well as these particular women. For most girls who were really gorgeous when they were younger they'll gain weight and what made them gorgeous when they were younger will fade away. This doesn't mean though that someone won't still find them attractive. The idea that it is ONLY women under 30 who are attractive is stupid. And the idea that all women over a certain age are no longer physically sexy is silly too. Yes personality will play large factors in many people's attractiveness, but that's no different to youth. Not all young people are good looking either.

Basically all people of all ages can be attractive for all kinds of different reasons and attractive to different people. The particular comment I am assuming this thread was based on might as well have been a guy who only likes skinny girls saying about a larger girl "ew if she's bbw I hope she doesn't ever take her clothes off!" or a guy who isn't attracted to black girls saying about a black girl "If she is black I hope she stays non nude!! Wouldn't want to see that!" or the opposite way around. I think pretty much everyone here would probably agree that if it'd mentioned race they'd have been eaten alive, so why should age be different?

I mean technically to be fair, I think everyone writing in this post has similar opinions on this so really I'm just rambling. I also think that no one posting here (possibly even including me... ) is perfect. We all have body hang ups somewhere, there will be plenty of people who would rather not get with us for various reasons. Both models and members have these. I would wager half the members calling out a girl on gaining weight, or saying she's a bit too big has a gut. It's very easy for members and models to go around mfc picking at various imperfections about girls, even if it's just a little innocent thing "I really like this about her, but I would prefer her if she had....". I was speaking to a member friend recently who said he'd kicked himself once because he was watching a girl and thought "she'd look good if she lost x amount of pounds" and then realising with her weight if she did lose that much weight she'd be anorexic/in real physical danger. It's easy to think these things, especially that cameras tend to make you look like you're up to almost a stone heavier than you are. Lighting and cam angles can counteract this, but it's amazing how I'll change camera angle and get loads of arseholes telling me I've gained weight because the lighting is different, then I'll move it back and everyone will be like "oh, you lost it again"...