ok, another thread got derailed onto ageism, and since it is yet another thing that just slap pisses me off i felt the need to run my mouth on the subject, but moved it here.
ok, aging certainly changes physical appearance. it changes how our skin hangs (or doesnt) it adds lines and such to our faces. you lose hair where you want it and it starts growing where you dont. that does not mean that beauty fades after 30.
it seems to me that i wasnt so long ago that a full grown woman was considered the ideal of beauty. or are the 70s and 80s longer than it feels? Hepburn, Loren, Taylor. all famous beauties. and all of them still desired and admired as they aged.
but somewhere long the line (if memory serves during the early 90s) there came this wash of media saturation that changed how we see beauty as a culture. now people start talking about women in their early 30s as old. it is not just inaccurate, its plain dumb. puberty isnt 100% done til the early to mid twenties. the old saw that a woman hits her sexual peak in the mid 30s has validity. that is when skin and hormones and mind all start to really gel together into "woman" and "girl" is left behind for good.
mention famous women in their 40s and beyond to most guys and they get all indignant that you would sully their minds with such a hag. and im talking about really really hot women here. i've heard the "but shes so old" thing about Madonna, Charlize Theron, Pauley Perette and plenty of others. wtf? anyone seen Helen Mirren lately? that lady is still gorgeous! who gives a flying figaro if her hair is grey. beauty is ageless.
you see i think what people have started to value isnt beauty at all. its "cute" or "hot" and those things can and do fade with age. (notice i didnt include sexy, which i parse differently semantically).
i'm not even going to get into how truly atrocious behavior can turn the cutest of people into monsters. just raw physical appeal as in "gee i sure would like to cuddle up with some of that!" isn't the property of youth. youth has its advantages as far as attraction goes. lord knows i miss the firmness of skin and muscle tone i used to have and im not even 40 yet. but maturity brings a grace and fullness that is sexy as hell all by itself. so for my vote i have given up on the idea that youth equals beauty automatically. if you see a face, or a tush, or some boobs that trip your trigger, who cares how many years it has walked the earth? (you can reverse that for the folk that prefer beefcake and substitute pecs, tush or bulging crotch)
now im going to stay on topic here and not go into how beauty is more than just symmetric features in the right ratio. it is more than big boobs (or cock, or whatever). it is this mysterious something that shines even if those features have been marred by fire, scarred by injury or muted by illness. but for cryin out loud, lay of the women as they grow and mature.
ok, aging certainly changes physical appearance. it changes how our skin hangs (or doesnt) it adds lines and such to our faces. you lose hair where you want it and it starts growing where you dont. that does not mean that beauty fades after 30.
it seems to me that i wasnt so long ago that a full grown woman was considered the ideal of beauty. or are the 70s and 80s longer than it feels? Hepburn, Loren, Taylor. all famous beauties. and all of them still desired and admired as they aged.
but somewhere long the line (if memory serves during the early 90s) there came this wash of media saturation that changed how we see beauty as a culture. now people start talking about women in their early 30s as old. it is not just inaccurate, its plain dumb. puberty isnt 100% done til the early to mid twenties. the old saw that a woman hits her sexual peak in the mid 30s has validity. that is when skin and hormones and mind all start to really gel together into "woman" and "girl" is left behind for good.
mention famous women in their 40s and beyond to most guys and they get all indignant that you would sully their minds with such a hag. and im talking about really really hot women here. i've heard the "but shes so old" thing about Madonna, Charlize Theron, Pauley Perette and plenty of others. wtf? anyone seen Helen Mirren lately? that lady is still gorgeous! who gives a flying figaro if her hair is grey. beauty is ageless.
you see i think what people have started to value isnt beauty at all. its "cute" or "hot" and those things can and do fade with age. (notice i didnt include sexy, which i parse differently semantically).
i'm not even going to get into how truly atrocious behavior can turn the cutest of people into monsters. just raw physical appeal as in "gee i sure would like to cuddle up with some of that!" isn't the property of youth. youth has its advantages as far as attraction goes. lord knows i miss the firmness of skin and muscle tone i used to have and im not even 40 yet. but maturity brings a grace and fullness that is sexy as hell all by itself. so for my vote i have given up on the idea that youth equals beauty automatically. if you see a face, or a tush, or some boobs that trip your trigger, who cares how many years it has walked the earth? (you can reverse that for the folk that prefer beefcake and substitute pecs, tush or bulging crotch)
now im going to stay on topic here and not go into how beauty is more than just symmetric features in the right ratio. it is more than big boobs (or cock, or whatever). it is this mysterious something that shines even if those features have been marred by fire, scarred by injury or muted by illness. but for cryin out loud, lay of the women as they grow and mature.
