AGE IN THE AGE OF PLASTIC SURGERY
IN PREPARATION FOR THIS WEEK’S column, I took the easy route to inspiration — googling one of the themes for the upcoming issue, plastic surgery. Amid Kylie Jenner’s selfies flaunting her perfectly pouty lips, Kim Kardashian’s pregnant plastic-surgery rumors, and (again!) images of Kylie Jenner’s now-perfectly-perky boobs, there was an outlier — an article on baby boomers undergoing plastic surgery to stay competitive in the workplace. According to the piece, baby boomers are resorting to plastic surgery to maintain a youthful look, saying that it’s helped them avoid unwanted forced retirement due to their age.
While the article may be a little dramatic, the issue of ageism in the workplace — and in Hollywood, and among the sexes — is evident, yet one still shrouded when compared to other discriminatory issues. While we still have many prejudices in society to overcome, from race to sexual preference, many of these are slowly starting to be addressed and brought into the public consciousness. But ageism seems to have been somewhat forgotten in this age of activism.
In a New York Times op-ed, author Anne Karpf argues that the semi-panic surrounding the large aging baby-boomer generation has cast older people into unfairly stereotypical and dependent roles, leeches of the nation’s resources and finances. But this is an overreaction. As we age, more Americans are either a) working past retirement or b) adopting the role of the caregiver themselves for grandchildren.
What worries me about the misperception of older people as invalid, stale, and slowly unhinged is the way this thinking can fold itself into their overall thinking and wellbeing. A 1994 study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that negative stereotypes propagated against older people do, in part, have a negative impact on memory. If an older person is repeatedly told by society that he or she is becoming less useful and less intelligent, he or she may embody these stereotypes.
As much as I joke about wanting to be old (“You get to say whatever you want! Aquatic exercise classes! Bingo on the weekends!”), these ideas are troubling. As one of the largest generations of Americans age, perhaps their size will help bring this issue into a greater understanding.
