Ageism and E. Jean Carroll
There is a great Oped in today’s NY Times by Jessica Bennett, which I highly recommend. Like many other journalists (myself included), Bennett applauds Carroll’s fortitue and bravery for standing up to Trump and not backing down. But Bennett also begins by making clear who Carroll was as a journalist in the 1980’s, which is crucial to read. The media tends to describe Carroll as a “former Elle advice columnist” which was only one of her many jobs. I recall knowing who she was when I was starting out in the 1980’s, she was (and is) funny, tough, smart, provocative, innovative and a well-known presence around NYC.
What Bennett covers so astutely is what this case shines new light on: the notion that women are not valuable after a certain age. We all know about the notion that our culture can devalue women, treat them as property to be used, raped, etc; this adds more insight. She says that ageism was not brought up in the courtroom very much, if at all, but it is certainly central.
Here is an excerpt:
“If age has in some ways been a hurdle for Ms. Carroll to overcome in this case, I’d like to think that it was also age that let her see it through to this conclusion. That it was age, and wisdom, and the confidence that comes along with it that allowed her to make the genuinely audacious claim that an 80-year-old woman still has good, creative, vivacious, maybe even profitable years ahead of her.”
Trump and his lawyers made it seem that because Carroll is 80, why should we care? She should be grateful and just stay at home and knit with her dogs.
I find ageism incidious, and while I don’t know what it’s like to be a man getting older, I know how I feel as a woman. Not only are we dismissed as no longer attractive— something that has its positives, I might add—we are not taken seriously in wanting to continue to grow professionally. I can imagine this doesn’t happen as often to men, let me know if I’m wrong.
There is nothing of value to the idea “acting your age.” Think about it. How did we even start thinking that?
An example from the male side . . . I have been applying for a position in my field since July. Dozens and dozens of applications. My resume shows that I am far more qualified than virtually all of the other applicants. I have never received a response, much less an offer. Why? I am 76.
Thanks for this and for the referral to Bennett's article. I will soon become that "80-year old woman" that is getting so much stereotypical press coverage -- an astonishing (to me) fact of life. But I have been majorly annoyed at the astonishment among many reporters that an "80-year old" can have strength and gumption and the capacity to have goals, stand tall (well I am a little bowed and envy E. Jean's posture) and talk intelligently and with critical understanding both about her own experience and a larger than personal worldview. I don't consider myself part of the "silent generation" but part of the second wave of feminist loudmouths -- the not so silent generation that came of age and helped change the role of women in the sixties and seventies and that are especially frustrated now by the apparent back sliding. Go E. Jean! and Liza!