fitness

Older women can be athletes,  yes,  but it’s not all about choice

Sam B

We here on the blog have been celebrating the accomplishments of older women athletes. See Grandmothers as Athletes: How About We Just Call them Athletes? and Does being a grandmother matter to your swimming ability?.

At the same I think it’s important that we recognize that it’s not all about choice. I was super annoyed last night to see a pair of photos circulating on social media again with the tag “What does 74 look like?” and “Both of these women are 74 years old. The choice is yours to make.”

You can view my response in the blog post below.

What does 74 look like? And how much choice do we have really?
woman wearing pink dress holding fruit
Photo by Italo Melo on Pexels.com. It’s one of the photos I was offered when I searched the free photo service for “older women.”

Here’s more below.
depth of field photography of woman in pastel color sleeveless shirt and white sunhat
woman standing near galvanized steel
woman standing beside woman on white wooden chair facing body of water
an elderly woman holding dumbbells
photo of an elderly woman taking a photo of her reflection
shallow focus photography of person in black coat
elderly woman smiling

Published by Sam B

Philosopher, feminist, parent, and cyclist! Co-founder of Fit Is a Feminist Issue, co-author of Fit at Mid-Life: A Feminist Fitness Journey, published by Greystone Books.

One thought on “Older women can be athletes,  yes,  but it’s not all about choice”

  1. Thank goodness for your common sense and humanity. In the dominant Western ideology, anyone can do anything by sheer individual effort. While my very mission at present is to encourage people to approach old age positively, social and economic and political factors are extremely powerful.

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