Rude to ask a woman’s age? #ILookMyAge campaign faces it head on
An inspiring new #ILookMyAge campaign has fast become a global social media sensation this week as women worldwide reclaim their age to challenge sexist stereotypes.
Launched just one week ago, the hard-hitting #ILookMyAge Campaign has seen more than four million views globally.
Created by activism platform group Ageism Is Never In Style® by The Bias Cut and charity Centre For Ageing Better, the viral sensation has seen men and women across the world hit back at ageist and sexist stereotypes by posting a selfie with the hashtag #ILookMyAge.
The digital drive aims to combat outdated notions often targeted at women, including “you don’t look your age,” “you look younger than you are” and “you look good for your age”.
Jacynth Bassett founder of The Bias Cut & Ageism Is Never In style comments: “All of these phrases are outdated and ultimately meaningless. We all look the age we are supposed to look as we all age differently.”
“Ageing is not a monolith. Yet ageism in society has resulted in warped, stereotypical, narrow minded perceptions of what age looks like – especially for women.
“Ageing is a personal experience for every person, and the aim of this campaign is to champion diverse representation of ageing; disrupt outdated, restrictive ideas of what it means to look a certain age; and for women in particular to reclaim ageing as a badge of honour”.
The explosive user-generated campaign has taken Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn by storm, empowering women worldwide to redefine age norms. The trending #ilookmyage hashtag has garnered a staggering 2.6 million views inspiring content pieces with women from the US, Canada, Australia and Europe to India, Brazil and Israel sharing stories both in English and their native tongues. The brands gif’s have also been viewed over 1.7 million times.
The campaign is part of the thought-provoking “Ending The Age Of Invisibility” project.
The first of its kind collaboration between the Centre for Ageing Better and Ageism Is Never In Style® by The Bias Cut, created a collection of free editorial stock images featuring real women aged 50+.
The project, born out of a joint deep-dive survey, revealed that 46 was the “Age of Invisibility,” – the age that women stopped feeling represented authentically in the media.
Led and directed by Jacynth Bassett, founder of Ageism Is Never In Style® and The Bias Cut, the project editorially showcased six remarkable women, selected from a pool of over 250 applicants who were keen change the narrative around age presentation.
The images, available for download on the Centre for Ageing Better’s Image Library and Unsplash.com, have already garnered over 5,081,386 views and 28,189 downloads since going live at the end of May.
This powerful partnership aims to reshape the media landscape, challenging the industry to embrace age diversity and change the narrative.
The data from the study revealed the harsh reality of how female aging is perceived:
- Two in three women (66%) feel unrepresented in the media after the age of 46, despite having significantly higher income and spending power than younger women.
- Adverts and media outlets focussing on work and employment were deemed the worst, with three quarters (73%) of older women saying they were shown in a negative light.
- Two thirds agreed finance and fashion articles and adverts portrayed them poorly, alongside 61% in beauty, news and political stories.
Women wishing to change the narrative and join the #ILookMyAge Campaign can join the movement by boldly declaring ‘I Look My Age’ and embracing your authentic self in a reel, story, or post on social media.
