Our society is keenly aware of prejudice against African-Americans. Recently President Obama emphasized the progress made in regard to racial prejudice in a speech at the infamous Vermont Ave Baptist Church. However, we are unfortunately unaware of the rising ageism taking place against our elders. Our society helps to foster this growing phenomena thru but not limited to, advertisement on television, in magazines, and through messages on greeting cards.
Ageism is a word coined by Dr. Robert Butler, president of the International Longevity Center over 35 years ago to describe discrimination in the elderly. Who do we consider the elderly you ask? You are considered to be elderly if you are 65 or older. Our elderly population in the United States is growing rapidly and, “By the year 2030, one out of five people in the United States will be aged 65 and over” (Ferrini,5 ). Living in Florida, I am very aware of the large population of elderly; a lot of elderly like to come here to the sunshine state to retire. What this means, essentially, is that more elderly will become victims of ageism.
We all see it, on television and in magazines, advertisers mostly utilize the young and they often portray the elderly in a negative light. Between the years 1990-1999, 415 commercials ran, 269 had young people in them and only 19 had older people (Leyell, Miller, Mazachek). Additionally, these commercials depict the elderly as frail, immobile and lacking intellect. We all see the ads in magazines, an aesthetically pleasing young person gracing the cover. Why can’t we have an elderly woman on the cover showing her beautiful wrinkles and her stunning salt and pepper colored hair? I feel that not only does the gray look classy, it portrays a woman who has experience and knowledge that you would not consider they had if they weren’t of that age. In another magazine, an ad for sexual enhancers for elderly men as if elderly were are the only ones that needed them. There are plenty of younger men that need and use sexual enhancers, just ask around. You pass by the the greeting cards in the grocery stores and the ‘attention getting’ words on those cards mock the mobility and intellect of the elderly. A lot of Americans, myself included, enjoy the humor in the ‘over-the-hill’ and ‘old fart’ cards. Unfortunately, the elderly often view it as brutally offensive. This is clearly discrimination and can affect their behaviors and often lead to lower self-esteem. Why don’t we value aging? Why don’t we respect and honor it?
I feel that although we are making progress in regard to racial discrimination, we have along way to go as a society when it comes to discriminating against the elderly. Just like with racial discrimination, ageism needs to be addressed. I feel that we need to embrace aging and accept the wrinkles and the gray hair for what they are. We need to become more educated about ageism and we need to respect the elderly for who they are and what they have accomplished, not by their physical appearances. Eventually, we will all age.
References:
Ferrini, Armeda and Ferrini, Rebecca. Health in the Later Years. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
Leyell, Teresita, and Mazachel, Julian and Miller, Darryl. "Stereotyping of the Elderly in U.S.Television Commercials From the 1950's to the 1990's." Journal of Advertising History. Special issue. (2002).
