Shakira And JLO’s Super Bowl Performance Is Smashing Ageist Stereotypes And We Are All For It

Shakira And JLO’s Super Bowl Performance Is Smashing Ageist Stereotypes And We Are All For It

If you think about it, it’s a great time to be alive. The world is changing after being stagnant for a long time. Of course, bad things happen every day and as much as we want to, we can’t stop that. But what we can do, what we are doing, is continuously talking about these things in an effort to sway people’s mindsets. For instance, the more people that know objectifying women is wrong, the less they will do, right? It’s common sense.

Now, there are conversations about multiple such topics that are active- sexism, racism and casteism are just a few of them. And as thrilled as we are to see things moving in these aspects, there are a few topics that need to be discussed that have just gone missing in all this chaos. I am talking about things like ageism. Now, don’t deny it but we have all unconsciously said or behaved in certain ways that put people above a certain age in a box. I know I have, and it is a horrible thing to kill someone’s wings just because they are getting older – something that’s natural.

The reason I am talking about this today is that I was just watching the mind-blowing performance of two world-renowned goddesses Shakira and JLO at the Super Bowl Half Time. Now I don’t know the first thing about the NFL but at certain points of that show, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Shakira proved her hips still don’t lie and JLO’s pole dance blew me away. And when both of them come together, in the end, I was completely floored (just like the rest of the world). Both of them are gorgeous, killer performers and I genuinely could not take my eyes off them for even a second. Side note: This time I am not even exaggerating. If you’ll haven’t watched the performance already, you’ll are really depriving yourselves.

Also Read: Jennifer Lopez’s Super Bowl Makeup Took 10 Hours Of Prep Time And We Are Loving The Details

Getting back to my point, while I was watching it, I realized both those stellar women are middle-aged. This means that just by being themselves they are smashing all kinds of age barriers and stereotypes. I mean, how many times have you heard people say, “she is so old, she has lost all her charm”? Our society, like every other society in the world, believes that women are only “attractive” or “sexy” until they are under a certain age. The minute women cross let’s say 40, they are deemed lacklustre, no matter how interesting, intelligent or anything else that they are. All the value of youth is based on looks.

When this performance went viral online, the only thing netizens asked was how are they so hot despite their age? When the fact is they aren’t hot despite their age, they are so hot because of their age. It is understandable that because they both are supremely rich, it is easier for them to look a certain way. They have personal stylists, chefs, trainers an entire entourage looking after them and it’s part of their jobs to be take care of themselves. But if millions of people are surprised that at their age, they still manage to look this good, don’t you think there is a problem with our attitudes towards people in their forties and fifties somewhere?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8ID6ozJMez/

We always feel like after a woman turns a certain age, she is supposed to behave in a certain way. Spend her days watching TV, knitting, going for kitty parties the whole stereotypical shebang. I am not saying if a woman is happy doing that, it’s wrong. I am saying it is wrong for us to expect her to do just that and deny it as much as you want, there are times we do think like that.

Also Read: 3 Things You Have To Know About JLo’s ‘Barely There’ Dress That Broke The Internet This Weekend

Let me give you a small example. Just the other day I was walking down my lane with a friend of mine when we saw a lady who looked like she was in her mid-fifties jogging. My friend turns to me and says, “She looks good for her age”. Now, that means she did not expect that lady to look that good in her fifties, right? That is when I realised we are unintentionally programmed to be a little ageist, and these are all day-to-day things that I am talking about.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8GDc28pffa/

If that is not enough, let me give you another example. Have you ever called a young girl “aunty” because she dressed or looked a certain way? That is ageist too. You are essentially pointing out that an “aunty” is supposed to look or dress a certain way.

Shakira and JLO are living examples of women who are smashing ageist boundaries and stereotypes and we need to appreciate that and alter our own behaviour. It is not that difficult if we just make a conscious effort.

https://thehauterfly.com/lifestyle/neena-gupta-said-she-envies-the-opportunities-younger-actresses-are-getting-but-are-things-truly-changing/

 

Mitali Shah

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