Ageism

The term ageism was coined by Robert Butler, a medical doctor, in 1969. It refers to systematic prejudice and discrimination against people based on their age, particularly the elderly. Like other prejudices, ageism is premised on the belief that all older people are essentially alike—though they actually become more diverse as they age. The question of gender is particularly important with respect to ageism. Nonetheless, until recently, those who studied aging ignored gender, while those who studied gender ignored aging. In the last 20 years, people have realized that women and men experience ageism in gendered ways. This entry explores the issues related to ageism and sexism that women experience, the sources of gendered ageism, menopause and ageism, appearance norms and gender, the gendered language of ageism, and how ageism and hegemonic masculinity combine to affect men.

As women get older, they experience the effects of both ageism and sexism. Double jeopardy refers to the combination of these two fundamental areas of prejudice and discrimination. The term triple or multiple jeopardy refers to how women of color or other minority groups, for example, widows, experience [Page 20]aging. There is some evidence to show that the sense of well-being in older women is not as affected as one might expect by ageism and sexism, perhaps because they have low expectations about their lives and how others should treat them. Women also tend to experience freedom from the need to please others as they advance in years.

The source of this prejudice goes back to Ancient Greece, where both older women and men were seen as “ugly” and “used up.” In the Middle Ages, aging women were characterized as witches. As many as 2 million women were executed during this period. The 19th century saw the beginning of the medicalization of old age, and experts began to target women as consumers for products designed to ward off visible signs of aging. The desire to defy aging has accelerated throughout the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. However, although women remain the primary target of youthful-appearance norms, the use of age-concealing products by men is becoming more accepted.

Appearance norms in modern society provide a double standard of aging based on gender. According to these norms, women are more accountable than men when they show their age. On a man, wrinkles or lines may be considered an indication of character or experience. Men may look older without sexual penalty, while for women, every appearance of aging, for example, wrinkles, gray hair, and teeth that are not sparkling white, is a desexualizing stigma. In other words, women are expected to delay signs of ageing for as long as possible. For women, there is only one standard of beauty, the girl, while for men there are two, the boy and the man. That is, for a woman to remain beautiful, she must look like a juvenile, a teenager. In recent years, the standards of looking young have become more stringent. Women in the United States spend more money on cosmetics and personal care merchandise than on any other group of products.

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