So you may have read by now that Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves stepped out with his girlfriend for the first time in public yesterday – and boy did social media go wild.
Why?
Is it because she is a wonderful, successful artist? No…
Is it because she is involved in some sort of newsworthy scandal? No…
It’s because she is ‘middle aged’, as is he, but SHOCK, HORROR, she looks it!!!!
How very dare she age naturally and flaunt that ALL OVER THE RED CARPET.
I started to read the first 20 or so comments on the article I saw earlier and every single one of them slated her appearance – focusing mostly on how old she looks. A further scan of a few other articles showed that this was not a one off.
It was EVERYWHERE.
And right there, right there, is the problem we women face.
Why is it suddenly not okay for us to age? Why must we fight all the physical signs of our age and try to fake a more youthful appearance?
Why do we get hounded for obvious signs of plastic surgery but also for not having plastic surgery?
Why??
I shall tell you why. Because no matter what we do with out lives, our bodies, our selves – it will never be enough.We can be successful, loving, kind, wealthy, healthy and wise but at the end of the day we will be criticised for something that we did or didn’t do.
We worked hard but we didn’t stay home with the kids!
We stayed home with the kids but we didn’t forge a career!
We gained 20 pounds between high school and middle age!
We stayed exactly the same weight so we must be vain or have a disorder!
And the worst part of all this? A large part of these age-shaming comments were from women….
How will we ever change the societal pressures imposed upon us if we cannot see it ourselves?
We are in this together ladies.
We need to eradicate these ridiculous rules we have placed upon ourselves and let go.
Life is way too short for all of this and it will only stop if we stop.
Let’s make it stop.
