It may seem dichotomous to highlight both the positive image of aging represented by the Ms. Senior America pageants and the “dirty little secret” of aging that is elder abuse in the same issue of Prime.
I did this for a reason.
Both have the same root – how we view the concept of aging in America.
I’ve written for an elder publication for a good portion of my career here at Reminder Publishing, and I can say firsthand that it has had a profound impact on my image of what growing old means – and looks like – in America.
When I started working for Senior PrimeTimes back in the 1990s, the focus was on senior centers – their activities, trips, seminars and such. I had regular columns dealing with Medicare and other retirement issues, and the biggest feature I did was a two-part piece on how to plan for an early retirement.
Boy, how times have changed.
Around the year 2000, I started getting books about job searches over the age of 50, as companies began merging and downsizing and Baby Boomers were worried about their future - and their retirement savings. Then came the 2008 economic downturn and finding and keeping a job – or moving to a new career at 50-plus – became survival for many. The idea of retiring – or what retirement might mean and look like – was profoundly shaped by that glitch.
So was how those nearing retirement age – which has expanded past the traditional 65 for the Baby Boom generation – looked at what aging meant. Baby Boomers are healthier than any generation before them, but also have fewer guaranteed retirement resources. Sure, they have Social Security – with a questionable future – but no defined pension plans as their parents did. Investments have proved volatile and not always reliable revenue streams. Working longer – if possible – seems in their future. It almost feels like Boomers and the generations behind them can’t afford to get old – financially or physically.
How does that fit in with the image of aging portrayed in the Ms Senior America pageants? It’s another thing – like the retirement conundrum – that’s turning the concept of aging on its head. From the beginning, the pageants have challenged the cultural stereotype that women of a certain age start to lose their value to society. In the pageants these women are given a voice, a platform, a chance to strut their stuff and show their relevance.
How does that fit with elder abuse? Like the belief that women of a certain age begin to lose their value, elder abuse is a product of diminishment, of a belief that elders who may need assistance in some form no longer hold value or deserve to be treated with respect. To change that attitude, there needs to be a willingness to look at the issue of who needs – and who gives – care, much as the pageant looks at women and aging.
Aging is inevitable for all of us. It’s attitudes that we need to rethink.
Thanks, as always, for reading,
Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com
