Women and Aging

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Course

Tutor

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Women and Aging

Concrete Experience - Looking in the Mirror

It 's not the figures telling one 's age that are so difficult during those moments when you realistically face the knowledge that one 's body clock has past the hour of youth - after all , we all know some people that seem `old ' in their twenties , and `young ' in their eighties , with attitudes that do not , somehow , seem to reflect the accepted norm . But it is more in the way that society perceives those who are

aging that is difficult

Of course , some of the clichys did just happen to be true the one which says Old age creeps up on you , was one and the one that tells of just happening to look into the mirror one day , and realizing , in a split second , that you 're no longer the spring chicken you once were , is another . Both , in my case , were relatively true , and so on the day when I really had to face the fact that I really was middle-aged when I consciously admitted to the evidence of something that had obviously been present for a long time I still had the feeling that my aging had been instantaneous . However , this can not really be true

I was , at one time , pretty much oblivious to the passing of time and never really took much notice of the birthdays that went by - although I loved to celebrate them . However I never really thought about age itself . Consequently , and after the years had past , the aging reality only hit home after I 'd already experienced age discrimination - if that 's what this can really be called - which occurred when someone else communicated , very clearly , to me my apparent new status as being someone who was obviously past the first flushes of youth . It was , in some ways , a major shock

Of course , the stranger spoke to me in the nicest possible way with as much correctness within his tone as should warrant a respectable , mature , lady . But he still spoke as though I 'd gone beyond whatever age it is that society believes you to be of no more value And , therefore , it was only after this incidence that I took a look in the mirror to see if anything had changed . It had

Gender , Class and Ethnicity

Women don 't get an easy lot in life , do they ? It 's not that I 'm overtly feminist - and I 'm sure that men have enough problems of their own - but I still think it 's particularly difficult when some poor mum has stayed at home to raise a family , just to be told when she tries to re-enter the labor force that she 's too old , or no longer has the right qualifications - which adds up to about the same thing

And there I was , going through life , happily unaware of the tell-tale signs that others had already observed , until the moment when a polite stranger...