Anti-aging wrinkle cream line the aisles of Ulta. “Never ask a woman her age,” your mother teaches you at the age of 5. In today’s society, women are forced to learn to be afraid of aging. Men are allowed to be bald, but women dye their hair to avoid a single gray hair. As Taylor Swift once said, “I’ve learned that society is constantly sending very loud messages to women that exhibiting the physical signs of aging is the worst thing that can happen to us.” According to Forbes, we get wiser and overall more content as we age. So why is aging seen as negative? A 2014 survey of 2088 Americans age 18 and older, commissioned by the drug company Pfizer, found that 87 percent of participants had at least one fear about getting old, and most of the participants were afraid of a physical decline over death.
Marketers profit millions off our insecurities. Advertisements about preventing aging contribute to this anxiety, and the anti-aging product industry is worth $17.44 Billion. The idea that women peak at 35 is a part of the social construct that women are only valuable as long as they are attractive. Women’s worth is tied to their age, and we can’t let men win. Neutrogena, a skincare company, sells millions of its anti-aging products every year. That company is owned by Johnson & Johnson, whose CEO is Joaquin Duato, a white man who makes around $13.1 million per year. We can’t let greedy marketers profit billions of dollars off of the insecurities that they create. This exemplifies a frustrating continuity amongst corporations — the decision to put profits over the livelihood of its people. This idea that women peak in their late teens and early 20s causes depression in teenage girls. According to the CDC, “Nearly 3 in 5 girls felt persistant sadness in 2021.” This could very much be due to a multitude of factors, but a contributing part of that is this pressure to look attractive all the time from social media and advertisements.
Although I’m still young, I hope that as I age, I celebrate the oncoming years and the gift of life, instead of being frustrated at getting older. Aging is a gift that not everyone gets to celebrate.