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The Tragedy of Older Women’s Invisibility
An entire segment of our society remains largely unseen. And this needs to change.
Although one-third of the U.S. population is over the age of 50, the invisibility of older adults is widely accepted. Aging adults’ lives are characterized by broad-brush assumptions and viewed through a two-dimensional lens: pitiful, selfless, bitter, frail, and out of touch. Rarely are the elderly seen as, well, just people who got older, replete with strengths and weaknesses like everyone else.
Aging women, in particular, remain unseen.
Those gray-haired women — the ones with leathery skin and thinning hair and stooped posture — often go unnoticed. We pass them by in supermarkets and shopping malls, barely seeing them, barely considering that they may be smart and intriguing and possess a personal history worth knowing. We often look away, seduced by the lure of youthful energy, and perhaps, a little frightened to face what’s in store for all of us.
(And while visions of our older selves can inspire dread, there is hope to be found through the concept of “generativity” as described below.)
What I know about aging
As a psychologist, I am well aware of the fears and challenges that arise as we…
