In a culture that worships youth, preventing the signs of ageing has become synonymous with self-care. But are we being set up to fail?
School girl Carson Bradley caused shockwaves when she posted a TikTok of her elaborate skincare regimen titled: “Things I do to slow down the ageing process as a 14-year-old”.
The fear of ageing has been embedded in our psyche for millennia. The ancient Greek myth of Tithonus – who loses his faculties and is left to babble incoherently in a room for eternity – taps into an existential anxiety, as does the fable of Dorian Gray, who gave up his soul in exchange for eternal youth. Old is a country no one wants to visit. We are afraid of ageing because we fear losing our independence, and sickness, loneliness and death.
“Youth has always been a currency in terms of beauty,” Zhou says. “Is TikTok just amplifying these conversations? I think the standards of beauty that we’re upholding here are the same ones that we’ve had for decades. Society benefits women who obey these types of beauty standards.”said ageism remains normalised and acceptable in Australia, despite leading to poorer health, social isolation, decreased quality of life and financial insecurity for older adults.
Invisibility can mean that women are ignored in queues, can’t land job interviews, and are shamed for not dressing in “age-appropriate” ways. When asked what it is about the nursing home that they really don’t like, she says the most common answer can be summarised as: the place is full of old people.
“When Miriam Rose was speaking to old people she would say to them, ‘you’re all elders’,” Kirkman says. “She was determined to elevate all old people on the model of Indigenous Australians.”, says intergenerational contact can challenge negative attitudes. “We clicked so easily because he’s like the old version of me,” says Vya, who still sees Ball every week and communicates with him and other residents in a Whatsapp chat group. “I hope to grow old just like him and still have all my energy, still be super excited to see people and super jumpy. He’s definitely just like a teenager in my eyes.”Dunn, who has 1.
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