Sex/uality Artifacts

Hello everyone, my name is Nichole Davenport! For my second artifact, I chose to relate my artifact to the article we read for class today entitled “Feeling Old and Ugly? Look Again!” written by Margaret M. Gullette, who is a writer for Women’s eNews. I thought this article and artifact would be perfect for me to share with the class due to the fact that I did my research manual on Ageism and Sexuality and my focus in school is on Gerontology. As everyone would know from the reading, this article is not only inspiring, but also has a very optimistic view on aging and the woman’s body. Gullette redefines what it means to be beautiful and what beauty looks like, and did so based on her perception of her own body. Gullette said she is aging and hasn’t thought of herself as beautiful or sexy in a very long time, which a lot of that had to do with what society says about aging and the stereotype that “old is ugly” and “old is frail”. She discovered her beauty and sex appeal in the shower one day and acknowledged her curves, hips, buttock, thighs, and calves. She even went as far to say, “Did I tell you already that my shoulder looks strong and silky from above?” Gullette goes on to explain how beauty products and advertisements focus only on young and beautiful women who appear to be flawless. As I showed in class, Dove-Pro is now advertising their Anti-Aging products as Pro-Aging products, emphasizing on the importance of keeping your skin healthy with a more natural look. Their advertisement for their new Pro-Aging products displays nude older women as their models rather than young and “flawless” ones, proving that older women are just as beautiful. I think this campaign and more optimistic view on aging and beauty is extremely relevant to Gullette’s article. In class, we have gone over stereotypes and discrimination and how they are all based on societal norms. If we can change what we view as “normal”, such as only having young and beautiful models or that it’s normal to feel ugly as we age, then we will be able to embrace our upcoming aging years with no fear or anxiety. It is so important for older adults to be treated fairly, with respect, and treated with dignity. Older adults are living longer, and we cannot change that or delay further aging. We should take on a more strengths-based approach with this topic of Ageism and Sexuality or beauty in aging. Remind older adults that their laugh lines should not be looked at as wrinkles, but rather as a reminder that they lived a happy life full of laughter and love. Remind them that their white and gray hair is still beautiful and portrays wisdom. Also, remind them that they are still sexual beings if that is how they identify themselves, and shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Older adults are still people, and should be treated as nothing less.