Paulina Porizkova Calls Out Ageism in Twitter Ads That 'Amuse and Piss' Her Off
If you want to see the differences between the ads featured on Twitter targeting men versus women, look no further than Paulina Porizkova. She’s been calling out the ageism in society for quite some time now, but her latest Instagram post will have you chuckling and fuming all at once.
Showing an ad that has a “28-Day Walking Challenge for Women Over 45” next to a “28-Day Workout Challenge According to the Age” for men, there is a stark difference between the cartoon drawings of the genders. The 45-year-old woman doesn’t look anything like the young and thriving women in their 40s that we know. She looks decades older in the drawing and is walking with a cane. On the flip side, the 45-year-old man is shirtless, looking like he stepped out of an Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator film — he’s ripped with muscles.
Porizkova made sure to add her two cents to the equation, writing, “little something (pulled off of Twitter) that never ceases to amuse and piss me off in equal measure. A little reminder for those of you who believe there is no ageism and misogyny…” She’s absolutely correct — the women get dowdier (and how dare they make us a crazy cat lady at 65+) while the men look pretty darn good all the way into their 60s. If we don’t fight this imagery, it will never stop — and that’s certainly not something we want to pass on to the generations behind us.
Women are thriving in all decades of life — we see you, Jane Fonda — and in developed countries, women outlive men by four-to-seven years, according to the National Library of Medicine. So, those Twitter ads, as humorous as they are on some level, don’t even represent what is really happening out there in the real world. So if you are 40, 50, 60 years, or beyond in age, go out there and kick some butt on your next hot girl walk — Porizkova is reminding us to dismantle these antiquated patriarchal ideas on aging.
Before you go, click here to see all the celebrity women who have spoken out about ageism.