What do you think about getting older? How do you react when you see older people, older than you, on the street? I am ashamed to admit that when I first met an Order of Canada recipient in his 90’s knowing nothing about his distinguished career and life at the time, my first thoughts went to his diminished physical stature and eclectic wardrobe. I realized my own ageist frame of mind after reading an article by colleague and researcher on aging Dr. Blair Roblin.
In his Winnipeg Free Press article “In the battle against ageism, the enemy is all of us,” Roblin points out,
“Ageism, plain and simple, is discrimination against older people. Most of us recognize that discrimination is nasty stuff in all its forms … But there are some curious aspects of ageism that make it different from other “-isms.”
Generally, when we discriminate against others, we cast them as the “out-group,” with negative features that separate them from us, the “in-group.”
But with ageism, we actually shun a group that we plan to join later in life. … we discriminate against our future selves.”
In a recent television clip, 67 women aged 61 to 85, who were collectively cycling 18,107 km over a four-week period, were described by the announcer as “grey-haired ladies.” Really? If it were men undertaking the same feat would the announcer have referred to them as grey-haired gentlemen? And that is what sparked me to seek out Dr. Roblin’s permission to link to his article. Roblin reminds us that addressing ageism is about:
“… our collective efforts to reconstruct the image of older adults as competent, productive, social beings, or at least on recognizing seniors as being no different from the rest of us — quite simply, young people who have grown older.”
And until we address the ageism within ourselves, we cannot be open to the myriad possibilities that the second half of life offers.
For an engaging take on combatting ageism, you can watch Carl Honoré’s TED talk, “Why we should embrace aging as an adventure” below. Honoré offers a set of simple solutions to combat ageism starting with how you talk about yourself.
A contrarian thought on ageism. I recently acknowledged to my men’s group that I have 7 out of 8 privileges that I can identify:
White
Straight
Male
Affluent
Able bodied
Able minded
English as a first language
The missing one is age as I am now considered a senior. One white man immediately responded that in our society elders should be given more respect, and we should change that. I laughed at the irony. The one privilege we are missing and he wanted to fight to get it back! I am all for seniors treating themselves better and not falling for limitations of age, but I think we boomers have enough going for us not to make this an issue! As well, we men can stop denigrating older women in our words and groups. But, we might better spend our time fixing some of the crap we foisted on the next generations.
I agree that the ‘cause’ of ageism is a worthy cause, but for me, there are better fish to fry. For instance, Dogwood BC is supporting a movement to lower the voting age to 16 in BC. Given that many political decisions will be affecting today’s 16 year-olds, I think this is a fair idea. This would ‘lessen’ my own political power, but might make for a better world
Thanks for this Brian. Your acknowledgement that “we men can stop denigrating older women in our words and groups” puts a spotlight on the particular challenges faced by older women. “The crap we need to fix,” as you put it, would be best addressed by people of all ages regardless of gender identity sitting at the table.