How do middle-aged woman cope with their diminished value?

[PeppersTheCat]

Aging burdens up all. But particularly women.

We lower in reproductive value. Aging in women is seen as worse than in men. It is expected that a man will be with a younger woman. Women are judged more on looks, which diminish over time, etc.

How do you cope with this?

I'm in a relationship with a man the same age as me, and I find it a tough pill to swallow - that my value is diminished simply by being an aging woman, yet his is largely untouched. I think the power balance will shift as my "mate value" diminishes.

Yes, well as TalkinPeece has pointed out the OP has posted and fled so I suspect this was started without any real meaning or thought in what he/she posted.

Just a case of posting something stupid/nasty/questionable and watching for the ensuing bun fight, or as in this case non bun fight.

When I was in m 20's and looked at women of 60 + I never thought about how they felt or what they really looked like because I had this obsession about how they presented. There was a strange uniform that consisted of a perm, grey hair, spectacles with fins, a pastel gabardine raincoat and a shiny hold all. Beige tights and flat beige shoes completed what seemed to me to be the universal ensemble.
My main worry was "when will this happen to me?" When would I start dressing like that or having a perm? Like some sort of pernicious illness that might creep on slowly without you realising it. it wasn't until I was past 40 myself and nothing had happened that I realised it was entirely a matter of choice.

I remember reading about the fear of age, like being on a motorway and reading about a crash few junctions ahead. But my father, who died in his late 70s, always said he felt like 30 in his head. It's all a state of mind!