How Ageism Affects our Lives |GRWM

Ageism is so prevalent in our lives we probably don't even notice how much it has seeped into nearly everything we do and how we act, what we buy and how we talk to each other. We're talking about a wide number of issues today and I know it's a long video, but I really appreciate you watching this and value your opinions on this too.

Let's connect:

Products used: (all cruelty free, vegan, and not owned by parent companies that test on animals and purchased by me)
Uoma Beauty Say What?! Foundation in T2C White pearl, and concealer in White Pearl T0.5
Colourpop in a trance palette, lippie stix in Westie, bff eyeliner
Ace Beaute Paradice fallen palette
Sass Beauty Her lashes and lash glue
Mellow cosmetics brow pomade in Taupe
Elf Cosmetics prismatic lipgloss in rose quartz
DB Cosmetics lipliner in raspberry
Cover FX Perfect setting powder
Thrive causemetics liquid lash extensions mascara and brow fix in Christine

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro and context
03:43 What is ageism?
06:14 Relationships
09:01 Pregnancy
09:47 Job Security
12:14 Health Validity
14:02 Why Ageism affects people
17:59 Internalised Ageism
19:13 How the Beauty Industry Benefits
28:01 Where this is all going, the future of Ageism

Second Thought's YouTube channel:

Sources:

Ageist ads - the fighters:

Graphs:

Studies:

[linseyspolidoro]

I turned 30 this year, and there’s this guy who would come in all the time while I was working the bar because he really wanted me to play keys for his band lol. Anyway he followed my Instagram to send me some of his bands stems and/or demos. So he comes in and as I’m making him a drink he is asking if I checked my Instagram and goes in to say, “Yeah, I was surprised, I didn’t realize how _old_ you were until I saw your Instagram.”

I was getting a glass so I had my back to him and I just turned my head around to look at him and I think he realized that was.... a rude thing to say so to try to backpedal or make it better he goes on to say, “well, I just mean, ya know, I didn’t realize age. Just because this is like a job that high schoolers usually have.”
I’m like wtf? First of all you have to be 18 minimum to be a bartender so, what, how would that be the case?? Second of all, I was the bar manager and recently got promoted but even so, if I was _’just’_ a bartender, that’s a real job.

But the worst part is that he’s not like freshly 21 or anything, I’m only a few years older than him. And he knew I was getting married soon since he asked me about the wedding, so like how old did he think I was?

[marionettilapsi]

Fun fact: Some of ageism also comes from destruction of old religions by christianity, as old religions tended to have a more close relationship with death and great valuing of old people (often especially women as wisdom keepers). But as those were demonized and built into the belief system, it opened a way to fear of death instead of acceptance, and hate for aging itself. This issue is older than our modern societies, and its roots go deep into colonialization, and religion changing the closeness with death into something that became hidden - like how in past people used to tend to their own dead, have wakes, wash the bodies, have rituals over them, but larger religions took those bodies to big places of worship and made people strangers to the effects of death.

I myself love the reality of aging, and have never feared death. Yet I am not a nihilistic. I love life, and death is simply the end of it. What memory remains, remains, but I'll in some way be part of in the birth of new life, even if it is just worms and bugs that feed from my corpse. (: Old age is beauful, and death should not be a terrible thing. But solemn, quiet, calm. Welcoming in the end of good life lived.

[lauraalopez]

I’m letting my hair go white, dressing however I like, eating dinner at 4:30pm when I can dining out, watching my beautiful bird feeder guests, and I joined AARP. I’m not afraid of aging. I started a tiktok account about the same time a young handsome 19 year old did on a similar topic. He even said my content was better while he soared to 1000s of followers easily. I don’t know him in real life but he’s been kind to like every one of my posts without fail and comments sometimes to boost me.

[biljam]

Movies and tv shows are a large part of this problem. People over 40 or 50 or more are often presented as "gross" and ugly and unwanted, even scary in horror movies where they prey on young people to steal their youth (there are literally a lot of movies with such story)! It's often used in comedies, for laugh, like how "gross" old people are and how people are grossed out by idea of old people falling in love or having sex. I am so done with that stupid trope! Not to mention making fun of celebrities like Madonna and calling them "crazy grandma". What are we supposed to do, to just die when we reach 50 or 60?

[ilynn]

I totally love the new emerging wave of finding beauty in different ages. I’m 27F and i love feminist video essays. But every single video essayist is approx my age. And it got me thinking, we need some mother and grandmother figures in our feminism. We do have a few. (Not necessarily video essays). Our societies and communities NEED women and people of different ages. « Beauty » and « s£x appeal in the male patriarchal gaze » should be differentiated. They aren’t the same. Every age has a different kind of beauty. Young-energetic, or older-wiser-confidence etc etc. I look forward to embracing beauty in every life stage i go through

[tonyabanyai]

Thank you for such an in depth look at ageism in and out of the beauty community. It’s such an important topic and not discussed enough.

[suoutubez]

a bit late to the video, so i’m not sure if you’re still checking the comments! this video made me think of the social media trend where people are like. “look at how young X celebrity looks at their age compared to celebrity X! this is what happens when you mind your business and aren’t problematic!” so we’re associating physical characteristics of aging with unlikable character traits? also, it’s not really normal for someone who is 60+ to look decades younger. that celebrity just had some sort of procedure or work done.

[HaleyMary]

I stopped going to the mall to browse in the past few years, first because of covid, but nowadays I don't go out to the mall because I feel like retail people at the mall are just wanting to hound people all the time and force you to buy stuff you don't necessarily want or need. I work in a drug store, but I prefer asking people if there is anything they are looking for and directing them to the right aisle, but not forcing them to buy any certain product.

[kennethjoneification]

☕ I like what you said about analysing the ageism that exists in our own actions and the language we use, much like we are in the process of doing with racism, to instead aim to practice anti-ageism. The more I think about it, it's so sickening how prevalent ageism is not only in the beauty industry but as a general societal norm

[elyssethemango]

The tabloids here are so cruel. I remember seeing the front cover of one showing the bodies of actors and actresses that are no longer 20-something. They were highlighting saggy skin and protruding bellies. If celebrities aren’t allowed to show signs of aging, I guess we aren’t either. 🙄

☕️

[monikacybulska]

I repeat this each time, but thanks so much for another excellent video!

[MareaRayneOleander]

Old people can be really awesome, really horrible, completely off their rocker, and altogether too sweet for their own good.
BUT, have you googled tattooed old people?
Some absolutely incredibly beautiful images.

[emmi]

It is a wonderful video, but i just want to make clear somethings about the pregnancy stuft. As a medical student my self with the ambition to go into birth medicin, there are medical reasons vor calling a pregnancy over the age of 35 a risk. For example there is a higher risk of genetik malformation (because of biochemical reasons that every human has, but males just dont reproduce) and the doktors have to Check for that more often . There are other reasons to… First sind formost its just a categorie for the doktor.

Im sorry for the mistakes but this isnt my foreight language.

[Diluted_Insanity]

What I dont get is that people simply accept the consumerist mentality and have done so for so long, though with the recent recessions in multiple countries crumbling under the feet of rising inflations something feels like a riot over better finances will happen. Sociology is a nice subject... if you're not terrified of the future or have English as the side subject (the books I learnt i.e Handmaid's Tale and Animal Farm might as well be happening again)

-Casual Gen Z-er who is fearing the future with the millennials and just accepting fate with my fellow Zoomers