To think of myself as a girl at 50? [Light-hearted]

I’m 42 and refer to myself and my female friends as girls.

Good luck to you OP, as long as you can run for a bus or not worry about 3 flights of stairs.
One point, Victoria Beckham, IMO she has been middle aged in attitude since she was 14.

If you're a 50 year old woman you will likely have navigated enough of lifes trails and tribulations and gained enough experience to have earned the right to see yourself as you wish, and take harmless pleasure in being female any way you like.
Personally I'm aware I've matured and I don't feel or look like a girl in my 50s, but I'm fine with that, happy to embrace this life stage.
But if you can look in the mirror and see a 28 year old, and that brings you joy, if you have the energy, sense of fun and zest for life you did decades ago and that let's you live the life you want to, then brava! I salute you.
People get very uncomfortable when older women refuse to melt invisibly into the shadows so youll get a lot of attempts to burst your bubble though.

I think it’s fine to use yourself, but patronising if someone else uses it - especially a man. I still say I’m going out with the ‘girls’ and we’re added between 47 and 53!

I can’t bear ‘lady’ and find that completely patronising.

When I look in the mirror I now see my Gran staring back but inside I still feel like the 17 year old I was when I met my DH

I don't mind girl at all but then "woman" has bad connotations for me I think because when I was a kid my mum made a driving faux pas and got stuck blocking traffic and some bellend shouted "you stupid woman!" To me the word woman is just matter of fact and a bit cold. My nan used to call younger women "girls", everyone was young to her. It's literally only in the last few years people have suddenly decided they've got a problem with it. People be moaning about the word "girlfriend" next probably.

We still say “girls nights” our group are 45-55 don’t really think about it. No one is so delusional as to think we still are like the under 40s though we stay current and are fit and active and do new things all the time.

If you have teens yourself you know the vast gulf there is between 16 and 50.

The thing that’s hard to watch is a 40 plus woman being coquettish, flirty and girlie - that’s absolute cringe. None of my friends would do that I’ve seen some of my mums acquaintances be like this - shudder.

Well to be blunt if biological men can self identify as women then I see nothing wrong with a 50 year old biological woman self identifying as a 28 year old "girl ".

Also I guess a lot depends on people's mental definition of the word "girl" / "girls". Some view it as being under 16 / 18 playing with Barbies etc. Whereas others see it as including your 20's and partying with chums at the weekend etc.

I with you op, until I look in the mirror or try to run 😂.
Enjoy being girlish as long as you want 👍

I think being a girl is a state of mind. It retains the essence of who you were

I get that but, as I get older, I don't think "Im 62 but I feel 26" because I realise that this is what 62 feels like - I'm still me and have the same joie de vivre I had throughout my 20s, 30s.

I'm not a girl, though, I'm woman - hear me roar!

Aah, I was talking about this thread not a different one.

If someone wants to refer to themselves as a girl, fair enough, it doesn’t sit comfortably with me to hear someone referring to someone else in any way that they’ve not already expressed a desire to be referred to like that though.

Only if you still play with Barbies, OP. 😉

From the OP:
This thread has been inspired by another thread where the OP says he's confused by a girl at work, who is 41.

I'm in my late 40s, and I absolutely have moments where I'm surprised that I'm old enough to have the responsibility I do. I'm sure all of us have some form of imposter syndrome in our own lives.

But referring to a singular woman as a girl is infantilising - and I'm not sure I've ever come across a thread where someone has referred to their 40 something year old male colleague as boy.

Yes I think fun busting is right!

Not sure why you think you're in need of 'explaining' the film to me!!!

Get over yourself!

Odd choice of inspirational quote there: Jack Lemmon’s Jerry - a man in a wig - was trying to convince himself he was a girl so that he wouldn’t make sexual advances towards Marilyn Monroe’s Sugar Kane. Not exactly bolstering the OP’s argument that she’s fine in classing herself a girl!

I’m another one of those fun-busting posters who finds the term ‘girl’ infantilising for adults. A ‘girl’ in her forties or fifties sounds insufferable.

Of course they ‘understand’. They just think that women who struggle with a word that presupposes their maturity and think that being infantilised is a ‘compliment’ might want to crank up their thinking muscles.

I don’t think anyone is saying they consider all adults as boys and / or girls are they (sorry if I’ve missed it), they’re saying that tin their own heads they still consider themselves to be a girl.

I definitely still have moments where I think ‘I can’t believe that someone thinks I’ve got my shit together enough to do this job’ and I’m in my mid 50s (I am very good at the job though)

I am 60 and know well I am a woman but I have girl friends, girls nights out, girls weekends away.

Whilst all are very successful career wise in their chosen fields, they all maintain a very light hearted attitude and demeanor.

We have great laughs when we are together.
So I do think of these longtime lovely friends as girls in my heart, though we are patently we are not.

They all dress in a very classic elegant timeless style, which is very subtly youthful too and unchanged over the years.

You sound delusional and and your worth is entirely embedded in your looks and whether men find you attractive.

I look great and am fit and healthy but definitely 49 and not 28 and I'm glad to look my age. It represents all the experience and wisdom I've gained in my life and the seniority and respect I am given in my professional life for my knowledge and skills. I absolutely love being and looking my age.

We are all different - my mother is 18 at heart at over 70 and my DD now in mid-twenties has referred to herself as a woman since age 10. When something was challenging, she used to say - I am a strong independent woman, I can sort this. She is indeed.

Wow having read the thread theres a lot of people up their own arses here!!

Im a girl, but Im also a respected professional, dont even own a skirt, wear black all year, no make up, not sure clothing choices are indicative of anything, nor is job, nor is appearance.

I think people just dont understand what is being said here!!

Be Jack Lemmon - Im a girl, Im a girl, Im a girl.

My DM is in her 70s, she goes out with 'the girls'.

Do you agree that using 'the boys' and 'the girls' as collective terms is completely different to considering adults as girls and boys?

That's sound very woman like. Stronger than a girl. More empowered. Free of the expectations of being 'a girl'. Important not silly.