A Woman’s Expiration Date
In 2 days I will be turning 22 years old. As someone who grew up in the performing arts, always wanting to be center stage and celebrated, you’d think this was something I’d be excited for. But I am filled with nothing but dread and resentment for this 22nd cycle around the sun.
As a kid, birthdays were the most magical day of the year. A day full of gifts, friends and family, parties, candy, cake, ice cream etc. It was a day all about you. What more can a kid wish for? But there comes a time in everyone's life where this special day loses its charm. The magic disappears and it just becomes another day of the year.
This transition, however, takes the biggest toll on women everywhere. As a woman ages, society places a time bomb on her. The less youth she possesses, the less value she serves. Once the signs of aging begin to show in a woman, she begins to face the struggles of not only being accepted by society but also desired. And this transitional period only comes earlier and earlier as the years go on.
This is an issue for all women created by sexist ideals and the male dominated society. This is harmful to women of all ages, though. The younger this transitional period begins, the more dangerous it is for young women all over. If men no longer find themselves attracted to women their own age, they will obviously be looking for a woman much younger. This is a dangerous and predatory standard and men only continue to date younger and younger women, resulting in very harmful and inappropriate relationships between a man and a young girl.
Women become overlooked and disrespected as they age, not only by the people around them, but by themselves. What this issue does to women’s mental health and self esteem is extremely sad and harmful. Women suffer from eating disorders, spend thousands of dollars on surgeries, and suffer from severe mental illnesses because of this societal time bomb placed on them.
Women offer so much more to this world than just their physical appearance, yet are constantly being diminished down to only that. It is extremely exhausting. Life feels less exciting when you know you are just waiting for the days of your youth to slip away.
When I think about aging, it’s ingrained in me to think of it as a bad thing, but men seem to have the opposite problem. Men are celebrated for their aging proof. silver hair and hunky dad bods, and hairy chests are things women celebrate in a man. They are believed to look handsome with their aging. Women have created an safe and accepting environment for older men, but women will never be able to experience that environment for themselves.
I’m turning 22, and I’m terrified. Terrified to lose my youth, my charm, my beauty. All because society believes a woman over a certain age has no more value left to offer. It is sad to think that I have a whole life ahead of me full of milestones and accomplishments I can’t even predict yet somehow it feels like I have already reached the end of “the good ol’ days.”
If you are scared too, I hope you learn that the value you provide is for no one but yourself. Your beauty, your youth, your shine is only there for you to use and admire. Age is just a number, the life you put into the number is what truly matters.