The Elegance of Aging and Why You Should Love It
Updated: Feb 27, 2020
Look babes, we’re all aging, at least we hope so, because the alternative isn’t exactly tops. So why is it that when women age, we are somehow considered less? Less beautiful, less powerful, less fill-in-the-blank? We at Bare Elegance Boudoir think that’s a load of you-know-what, and here’s why.
Ideal Feminine Beauty
Not to get too technical here, but the definition of feminine beauty is "the socially constructed notion that physical attractiveness is one of women's most important assets". The key phrase there is “socially constructed”. That means that what it means to be beautiful depends on time and place. Beauty has changed, and will continue to change, so it’s basically impossible to fit the ideal.
Beyond that, it’s interesting to think that in some cultures, aging is an empowering thing for women. Many Native American tribes consider elder women to be paragons of wisdom, and that they are to be respected and learned from, and they aren’t the only ones. So what happened in America to make us lose this idea?
Patriarchy and Aging
This can get a little dense, so we’ll keep it short and sweet. Basically, the patriarchy exists based on the idea that women are naturally weaker than men. The myth states that men are stronger physically and mentally for longer in their lives, giving them more “value” than women. This is obviously false, but is something that we still struggle against today.