The Guardian newspaper editors recently summarized the media’s message to older women: “To age is to fail.” Being past 50, the editorial suggested, without having made the rounds at cosmetics clinics, was to have neglected some unspoken duty not to appear aged. The editors appealed to the marketing and media industries to give older women a break.
“Stop basing everything you do on the assumption that we’re all embittered old hags, spending every waking moment yearning for lost youth. Do not think for a moment that we believe the manufactured myth that aging is a problem to be solved, and please stop treating the entirely natural process of aging as though it is a crime, a personal failing or a disease with a cure – it isn’t.”
Longtime Portland broadcaster and journalist Margie Boulé couldn’t agree more. “It’s really true what they say: when you are an older woman in our culture, you become invisible.”
Margie paid a visit to the PRP.fm studio recently, where she and Rebecca Webb talked about aging, agism and the particular prejudice against aging women in broadcasting.
Listen as Rebecca and Margie catch up on their lives, discuss their shared joy in mentoring younger people and what Margie says the young’uns ought to do in return.
Margie stars as Tallulah Bankhead in Triangle Productions’ “Looped” in September.
- New Festival Showcases Multicultural Readings & Films - August 18, 2021
- Parisalexa Plays Portland! - August 9, 2021
- Pardon our Dust! - June 29, 2021
I appeared on both your TV shows in the ’80 as inventor/founder of EyeDentify. My daughter Jasmine (and only child) will be 20 next month. I sent my wife and her the PRP interview.
Buzz
That’s great Buzz – fantastic to hear. Plus, you have the best name ever!
buzzthehill.blogger.com
google “buzzthehill” without the quotes will get you there and Facebook page, Rebecca
So true on aging Rebecca. And to Buzz Hill, I interviewed you when I was News Director at KINK in the early 80’s. It’s on reel to reel but I still have a copy of our conversation.
Hope you can find it, Valerie. It would be a great element to our film.
Excellent interview! You both have blazed new trails which command visibility. Wisdom is a function of curiosity, investigation, application, fine tuning, serving and sharing with passion. Thank you for continuing to shine light and create magnificently. Terwilliger Plaza is one example of a vibrant community in Portland light years beyond age. I’ve been a volunteer pianist for over two decades and learn with every visit. I am amused by my most frequently asked question which is “Do you live here?!” My friend , Hannah May, was 102 and still leading a creative writing group. It is gratifying to know that cultural biases can be identified and that all can benefit if we listen and apply such knowledge shared in this interview by Margie.