When the highly anticipated reboot of Sex and The City was launched last month, fans flocked to their
TVs (and laptops) to see what the three girls have been up to since the movies left off.
Now while some of the storylines have been shocking (that first episode, am I right?), the plot points are
far from the most talked about thing about the show.
In fact, I’ve seen much more talk online about the way the actors portraying Carrie, Charlotte and
Miranda have aged than almost anything else.
And it got me thinking…in 2022, are we still body shaming women?
Unfortunately, the answer seems to be yes as even Kristin Davis, who plays prim and proper Charlotte,
has recently taken to social media to tell people to stop commenting on how she looks.
From the release of the very first episode Davis was berated by memes, the media and TikTok videos
mocking her fillers and basically calling her ‘mutton dressed as lamb’.
On the other hand, however, some of the other cast members have been critised for having wrinkles
and you know, looking like ordinary women in their 50s.
If you feel very confused by this, don’t worry you’re not alone.
Day after day I see women who choose to have cosmetic procedures torn down because they want to
erase the signs of aging.
Then almost immediately after I’ll see posts chastising women who choose not to have procedures for
apparently doing the worse thing possible…allowing themselves to age.
It’s nothing new I’m afraid, but I did think in this day and age we would be better. Do better. Act better.
Where’s the ‘if you can be anything be kind’ movement when you need it?
While the new And Just Like That series has tried to rectify some of the problematic storylines that
existed in the original show, especially regarding race and sexuality, in the real world not as much
progress has been made when it comes to ageism.
Did viewers really go into this series expecting the actors to look like they did in the 1990s?
The judgment of older female celebrities and their bodies sends a terrible message to women in general.
It says that once you are over a certain age you are no longer desirable, which just isn’t the case.
Maybe all this talk would have stopped in its tracks if the character of Samantha was still on the show,
as no one said, ‘girl power’ and ‘age is just a number’ like our girl Sam.
Then again it shouldn’t take the example of a fictional character for society to realise that women should
be able to age however they please without judgement.
Why are men described as silver foxes, but women are told they are past their prime?
If there is one thing that is inevitable it’s that we are going to age, so why are we made to feel ashamed
of it?
If there’s any resolution we should be making going into 2022 it’s to close the chapter on ageism and
body shaming for good.