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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think 'omg there's something WRONG with her FACE' when I see so many American actresses

223 replies

OTheHugeManatee · 30/04/2015 10:28

Especially older ones. Their mouths don't move properly! It always looks like they're trying to hold in a mouthful of marbles. I think it's all the Botox and it gives me the creeps.

I find it really unfair that male actors are allowed to have foreheads and lips that actually MOVE while the moment women hit 28 or so they're supposed to become increasingly mannequin-like. Often too you see these frozen old-lady-dolls playing great characters and their weird, weird faces just makes me dislike them no matter what. AIBU to be creeped out by it? Should I just accept that this is the way the world is now?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
stormyboots · 30/04/2015 18:09

Renee!

likalixer · 30/04/2015 18:09

Sigourney Weaver has a natural look. If she's had work done, it's very subtle.

When older women dare to go down the natural route, such as Jamie Lee Curtis, the media are quick to pick up on it and will write all sorts of insulting articles.
I stumbled across one recently (by accident) and it was showing a picture of Jamie Lee, who was standing in pants and a vesty top - trying to promote what a normal, aging female body looks like I suppose) and they written by a man blasted her for not looking like she did in the 80's. ''We would rather NOT look at you like that'' it said.
Think they had a go at her face as well

So women are damned if they do and damned if they don't Sad

squoosh · 30/04/2015 18:10

Renew is probably more appropriate!

stormyboots · 30/04/2015 18:18

You're right SquooshWink

hidingfromthem · 30/04/2015 18:21

Behooven Grin

Rainbunny · 30/04/2015 18:29

I agree about Courtney Cox looking a bit "off." That's the problem, these women look good but they look odd. That's the problem with doing stuff like botox, it may be an invisible enhancer at first but it always shows after a certain point. I'm all for makeup and colouring my hair but I also think a women can look beautiful with a face that shows the age she is. Emma Thompson looks so much more beautiful today than she did twenty five years ago IMHO.

Floisme · 30/04/2015 18:35

Hmm.... I hate the look but what about all the threads on here and on Style and Beauty about the so-called horrors of frown lines and 'looking angry'? And the drip-drip casual ageism on these boards every single day. Isn't it all part of the same problem?

Chesntoots · 30/04/2015 18:44

I have (to my shame) watched a couple of "Real Housewives" episodes. Although it can't be denied that most of the women on the shows are attractive and have lovely figures, they somehow seem older than their real ages. I don't know whether it is the surgery, the big hair or what...

Mrsjayy · 30/04/2015 18:59

2 of the real housewives òf Beverly Hills husbands are plastic surgeons they do their oen programme. Imo it isnt agiest to be shocked at plastic surgery

ragged · 30/04/2015 19:02

omg, what happened to Madonna's hands? I'm not much younger & my hands look great in comparison. I don't know any woman about that age with hands like that, is it from all the working out she does?

redshoeblueshoe · 30/04/2015 19:04

I've just seen Tracy Ullman she looks great - and she looks her age.

icelollycraving · 30/04/2015 19:04

I've had Botox & lip fillers 10 years ago when I was in my early 30s. It looked amazing the first time,second time not so much. The first time I looked refreshed & smooth,the second time I got pressure headaches. My skin is good as I'm fat so no need of fillers,I have my own hamster cheeks.

Floisme · 30/04/2015 19:05

Imo it isnt agiest to be shocked at plastic surgery
That's not what I'm trying to say. I just think extreme plastic surgery is what happens when you have constant, 'women don't get older' messages everywhere you go, including on these boards.

Original poster
OTheHugeManatee · 30/04/2015 19:09

It's not ageist to be shocked at plastic surgery! Ageist is thinking older people NEED IT. Ageist is co reuniting to all the social pressures that lead people, especially women, to feel like they are less than valid as humans unless they subject themselves to expensive and often painful or dangerous procedures.

If you think objecting to plastic surgery is ageist you've accepted its basic validity as a response to ageing, which IMO is infinitely more ageist.

OP posts:
Original poster
OTheHugeManatee · 30/04/2015 19:10

*contributing, not co reuniting.

OP posts:
ragged · 30/04/2015 19:10

There are constant messages that
old = slow, boring, unlively, ugly, unattractive. FFS. And looking younger (for anyone who isn't currently under 25) is always better and an obvious compliment. Confused

Also anything that genuinely means older (like grey hair) also = ugly, unattractive, boring, slow, etc. It is depressing that people have such blinkered views of what signs of age mean.

AgentCooper · 30/04/2015 19:20

I don't think it's remotely ageist to find plastic surgery unsettling. The supposed need for it, that's what's unsettling.

I feel dreadful saying this, but when I see Madonna, Courteney Cox and Chelsea Handler, their faces make me think of raw, harshly waxed fannies. Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver are gorgeous and they were never classic 'bombshells' to begin with - their faces are lovely and characterful. Diane Keaton too.

I was watching The Sopranos the other night and Lorraine Bracco, who plays Dr Melfi, what a stunning woman. So much expressivity in her face. She kind of just looks like someone you'd meet in the street, and she's just stunning.

woodhill · 30/04/2015 19:20

great thread. totally agree. grow old gracefully

Original poster
OTheHugeManatee · 30/04/2015 19:25

I find it horrifying that women stop being considered beautiful when they no longer fit the 25-year-old image of perfection, and feel obliged to mutilate themselves to try and hang on to it.

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noddyholder · 30/04/2015 19:26

Diane keaton has had work i think

Mrsjayy · 30/04/2015 19:30

Women may feel pressured but surely its vanity gone to far ive seen girls on tv with a shiny forehead frozen face and not even 30 why ? The woman i went to school with i mentioned earlier that i didnt recognise doesnt look young and fresh faced she looks 40 odd with strange lips and a frozen face it just looks odd, this woman is a nurse and does cosmetic procedures from her extension so ordinary women are getting this stuff injected into them

noddyholder · 30/04/2015 19:42

It's pressure and when you first have a tiny bit it does look good I hold my hands up if it stayed looking like that I would have kept getting it indefinitely. No one knew I'd had it not even close friends family so it can be natural looking and while I agree it's madness I loved it :(

FeijoaSundae · 30/04/2015 19:50

jello, you're right to a certain extent, but the more people who have Botox and fillers, the more pressure there is on lay people to do it too, else they look 'old' before their peers/time.

The same happened with make-up - it's now so normalized that women who opt out and don't wear it, are the odd ones.

On this basis, it will be questioned and critiqued, and that's a good thing. No, it's not right to critique individual women's appearances (and I apologise for my part in that), but it's fair game to question the phenomenon.

Mrsjayy · 30/04/2015 20:00

Yeah non make up wearing women are treated like they are sc6zzy messy and not making the effort

Jackieharris · 30/04/2015 20:12

I've flicked through old magazines from 15 years ago and the women look the same now as then

Kylie
Madonna
Nicole Kidman
Reece Witherspoon
Kate Winslet

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