Women Aren’t Forgiven for Aging

By Irina Pino

HAVANA TIMES – I’ve recently read articles where actresses talk about aging, and how it becomes difficult to land roles in film and TV productions after turning 50 years old.

As a movie buff, I’m a fan of Frances MacDorman and Judy Dench, two actresses who have played different characters where physical beauty is the least important thing. I’m amazed by how they both rejected plastic surgery, never giving themselves up, and everything they’ve managed to accomplish thanks to their talent and performances.

I am concerned about the influence of false standards, the cosmetic industry, and its manipulation, which endangers women’s key values, imposing the perfect body on us, selling us anti-wrinkle formulas, whether it’s collagen, laser, Botox and other nonsense, to wind back the clock of gradual aging.

People’s hatred of the old is growing; getting old is useless, ridiculous, worthless.

Sometimes, when I’m at Submarino Amarillo, a place where rock bands play, I hear certain men make derogatory remarks about women, assessing them based on what they’re wearing, their bodies and their wrinkles.

They’re incapable of practicing self-criticism, they’re allowed to be fat and have a pot belly. They’re allowed to do everything because they’re men.

They constantly dribble over girls’ curves, and they’re willing to pay for sex, should the opportunity present itself.

It’s completely unnatural to want to retain youth. It was a time we left behind, we were selfish, reckless, and lived crazy experiences without thinking about the consequences.

A friend and I agree that it’s time now for us to be calm, a sisterhood with spirituality, our own vision of beauty has changed, we’re no longer interested in being desired. We focus on our art, on enjoying other things in human existence, on new projects.

We walk down the street without having to put up with ugly catcalls, without men touching our backsides because we’re wearing tight clothes.

Although months ago, as we were talking at the bandstand in the park on 17th and H Streets, in Vedado, a man sat in front of us and looked very weird. He didn’t stop looking at us.

We suddenly realized that the guy was jacking off, he had his penis under his briefcase and moved his hand up and down quickly. We shouted insults at him, of course, my friend threatened to post his picture on Facebook. He ran off.

We laughed about the whole thing, because it was a winter day, and we were all bundled up in clothes and were even wearing our masks.

Do we still have our sex appeal, despite all that?

Read more from diary of Irina Pino here.

One thought on “Women Aren’t Forgiven for Aging

  • The fact women are not “allowed “ to get old dims women fault because women seems desperate and lije they would do anything to gave a “man” men can get fat, uglier, bald, completely undesirable but always find a desperate lonely woman the job of men is to keep women down any cost troughs religion, social Standards or beauty standards. They know they need women more than women need them after all they are fighting within their Egos and their endless libido in order to be validate. Societies control by men accept a 60 year old man with a20 years old girl but they having a name ( cougar) for women in their forties dating a man in theirs twenties. Honestly who needs them?

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