Andrea, a PhD in literature and nonprofit worker in Dallas, is in her late 40s and feels intense pressure to stay youthful.
'Everyone has a facelift if they can afford one,' she says, admitting she would get one if she had the money.
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Despite being a feminist, she is saving up for a neck procedure, embarrassed by her own feelings yet unable to resist the urge to slow aging.
Dr. Sarah Lamb, an anthropologist at Brandeis University, has studied this phenomenon for over a decade.
Her participants in Boston are devoted to anti-aging practices, embodying 'permanent personhood'—freezing their self-concept around age 35-40.
They strive to 'stay young' but grow frustrated with the concept of 'successful aging,' which creates a binary between 'good' and 'bad' old age, implying one can fail at aging well.
As a medical anthropologist in my 50s, I understand Andrea's dilemma. Rapid scientific progress offers more tools than ever to stop time.
Cosmetic products tout 'latest science' like AHA/BHA acids and ceramides, promising rejuvenation. But behind these hypermodern claims lies the same old ageism.
A Historical Shift in Aging Perceptions
In the 1600s and 1700s, older people were revered, and fashionable people often lied about being older for prestige.
After the American Revolution, industrialization and a growing elderly population shifted attitudes.
By the mid-1800s, derogatory terms like 'old coot' became common, and a linguistic study found age stereotypes have become more negative over 200 years, switching from positive to negative around 1880.
