In Other Words
challenge prompt
“So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls,
why don’t somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?”
Harriet Beecher Stowe
I have been thinking about the above quote for a few days.
Yes, the gears have been turning but all I have is questions.
Young girls/women are beautiful. No question.
But why? Simply because they are young?
Old women are not thought of as beautiful. Question.
Why? Just because they are old?
Is there only one standard for beauty?
We look at things that are old and see beauty in them.
Antiques are highly prized though they may be
faded, scratched, wobbly, imperfect.
The works of the artisans of long ago are valuable because they are old.
Doesn’t matter that they are blurred with time, chipped or torn.
Why are old objects valued for their beauty and women are not?
Old houses are bought and renovated inside and out.
Tens of thousands of dollars are spent to bring back their beauty.
Old cars are restored to their former shiny good looks.
A great deal of money is spent to make them beautiful again though
they are less efficient and costlier to keep than newer cars.
Why is it okay to spend a fortune on old houses and cars
to make them look their best but it is considered silly or wasteful
for a woman to have cosmetic surgery to enhance her beauty as she ages?
Just questions that resulted from my thinking about women and beauty.
What do you think?
Are our beliefs and thoughts about the beauty of women distorted or skewed?
Why?
Are we too easily influenced by media and advertising?
Are we so superficial that we will not look beyond the outer wrappings
to find the treasured gifts within?
I have no answers just questions.
Patricia's Place 
Reblogged this on that little voice and commented:
I don’t have a lot of answer’s for Patricia’s questions, but once more I am reminded that discrimination against women continues to be alive even if subliminal.
Like this post and am reblogging it. Thanks.
Thank you so much! I am humbled.
Great post and great comments. Yeah, the “dress your age” bugs me too. Who are THEY to judge!
As long as we are clean and modest who cares what we wear? As for dressing “your age” when we are older…there are some children’s fashions that seem inappropriate to me. But maybe that is my age talking. 🙂
Yes, I agree. Children’s fashions are meant for children.
Oops,I wasn’t clear about the children’s fashions. I think some kid’s clothes are too grown up or adult for them. And I agree with you, women shouldn’t wear child style clothes.
I have the same questions and a few more. Why should someone with youth and beauty be chosen for a job over someone with experience and maturity? Why are we bombarded with advertisements that imply that we are less than good enough or less capable because we are no longer 20 years old? Why should I be counted out of the game because 20 for me was 30 years ago? Why should I have to compete with people that can’t even figure out a rotary dial phone?
And another thing….why are plus-sized clothes advertised with Twiggy models? Is it so totally awful for them to take a picture of a plus-sized model? Good grief! How logical is it that we aren’t even good enough to advertise products that are made for our age or size group?
What exactly is meant by “dress your age”, “you’re too old to wear that”, etc.? If it looks good on me, even if I’m 95, why shouldn’t I wear it? How exactly *should* a 50 year old dress? If a 50 year old should dress a certain way, then why shouldn’t a 20 year old have to dress the same way?
You can probably tell that I give this subject a lot of thought, too. It is one that makes me pretty angry at times. I’m tired of having to compete with people that are competition solely because they are younger, prettier, more toned than I am!
What is inside a person should be what matters, regardless of the packaging.
I agree with your questions and thoughts. We are more than how we look. The media has become something of a monster that feeds lies to impressionable young people…and older people. We need to be smart with what we put in our heads, it determines what and how our hearts feel.
Very true. However, some messages have been put into some people for so long that they don’t know how to erase them anymore.
It does take determination and effort. Most importantly you have to want to change.
You asked a lot of the questions I’ve been pondering too. Especially the part about seeing the beauty in older things but not in older people, unless we somehow try to restore them to youthful appearance. I’ll be writing a bit more about that for my post, hopefully tomorrow. Thank you for always making us think with the excellent quotes you choose!
You are welcome, Josie, and I am most thankful for your participation. I have read your post and it is superb!