Time to retire jokes about age: The cruel irony in American culture: We're living longer, but stereotypes about decline begin earlier
[13 January 2004 - Christian Science Monitor] As Margaret Morganroth Gullette explains in her original and provocative 'Aged by Culture,' this 'freaky' time machine 'makes human aging entirely bodily, predictable, and inescapably awful in its concept of decline.' No wonder 'age anxiety' afflicts people earlier and earlier. Gullette, a cultural scholar who calls herself an 'age critic,' challenges the belief that decline is the truth of aging. 'We are aged more by culture than by chromosomes,' she observes. In a society obsessed with staying young, images of unavoidable decline appear everywhere. Conspirators include advertisers, business executives, journalists, and entertainers. Birthday cards joke about midlife forgetfulness. Women's magazines tout the advantages of 'preventive' facelifts before 40. Drug manufacturers promote Viagra and hormone-replacement therapy, fueling a boom in 'youth restorers.' Media portrayals pit 'needy' Gen Xers against 'greedy' baby boomers to create what Gullette calls a 'generational grudge match.' William Safire even describes those between 40 and 60 as 'near-elderly.' ...