My journalist daughter Silja Talvi wrote a thought-provoking column in the last Evergreen Monthly, about turning 35. Here is an excerpt:
All of that amounted to a personal wake-up call regarding something that I’ve read and heard about for many years, particularly given the fact that I was raised in Los Angeles, a city that worships youth and youthful beauty above all else. As a student of feminist studies, I have learned women in various professions have been dealing with this issue in many forms and guises for as long as they have been allowed into the male-dominated workforce (which still represents, sad to say, nearly all of the major professions save for a few, including prostitution, nursing, social work, teaching and daycare.) To take but one classic example, female actors in Hollywood know this is so true that they’ll go to incredible lengths to have every manner of plastic surgery done to hide their age.
All the musicians in my family are familiar with the same kind of thing; women have certainly had it worse all the way around, but even the men know what it is to see attention turn to the young “up-and-comers” whose appearance and glamour seems to weigh more heavily than their actual talent.
You can read the article at http://www.evergreenmonthly.com/2005/em2106/emcolumn2106.html
