Do women really age worse than men?

[CoalTit]

I just read a novel where the protagonist thinks at one point how women age worse than men, and it took me back to a couple of boyfriends in the nineties saying that as if it were just something that everyone knows. I was really surprised that anyone would think the sex that goes bald ages better. Do any women think men age better than women?
YABU: yes, women age (physically) worse than men do.
YANBU: no, men as a class age just as badly as women.

Men age just as badly as women do. Qualities that signify youth are more highly prized in women than they are in men.

I think they do age better.

Kids wrecked me.

No, they don't.

Yes definitely!! Women go through much more physical and mental stress during their child bearing and child rearing years.It definitely takes a toll.

It's just misogyny.

I think society is just far less critical of mens looks in general so men are "allowed" to age whereas a woman is still expected to look young and put together as she gets older

This

A TOTAL MYTH. I have no idea where this came from, because I know way more women 50+ who look better than the men they're with. They look after themselves, they dress nice, and they are attractive. The man are a bit slobby, and balding, they have a pot belly, and they have lines on their face/wrinkles. Yeah the women have lines too, and pretty much look their age - as everyone does within 5-6 years or so, but no WAY do men age better. It's outdated and misogynistic bullshit.

I think both sexes have their spells where they age more than the other and of course some people are very lucky in that they age very well. Certainly for me, the majority of both sexes look at their best in their 20’s and 30’s and after that it’s a bit of a lottery.

Men take less care of themselves. They smoke, they get fat and lose their hair. Women look after themselves much better (or most of us do anyway).

Went to the beach when it was hot. Looking at the bodies, there were just as many fat men as there were women, yet women are scrutinised and scrutinise themselves in relation to weight. Similar applies to ageing, culture is more forgiving of men. Objectivity, men look just as wrinkled/fat etc.

I think youthful looks are more highly prized in women.

But physically many women go through a lot more so that could contribute

Floella Benjamin has just been on bbc1. 73 and still an absolute goddess. She is remarkable

I think women age worse than men, but that’s partly because many men become more attractive as they get older whereas women are often at their most attractive in their twenties and thirties.

Plus we carry the children, and that definitely ravaged my body far more than age is doing.

I think perhaps with baby boomers and war babies sometimes men looked young if they had better muscle tone and took exercise.

In my generation (X) I think on average women look after themselves better than men, and more men in this age group are overweight than women.

Biologically I think we women do age faster than men. For two main reasons:

• Our skin is thinner and so the effects of UV happen sooner. So that means wrinkles, loss of collagen/elasticity, and “age spots” from sun damage.
• Pregnancy and Childbirth. I don’t think I need to go into details here as any mother knows what happens to you. But suffice to say that it takes a lot out of you physically to grow and birth another human being..the more children you have the more the impact. Also, the older you are when you have them, the greater the impact.

Hormones - or lack of - are the enemy, most particularly for women; some of which just cannot be corrected or replaced, and which can have profound effects of how the body ages, no matter what we do,

Facially though - one thing that men can do that can conceal a multitude of sins around the lower face area - downward lines, lip lines, saggy jaw and chin area - is GROW A BEARD!

Even if we ladies wanted to, the most we might (generally speaking) accomplish - is the odd single hair sprouting here and there.

Our skin is thinner and so the effects of UV happen sooner. So that means wrinkles, loss of collagen/elasticity, and “age spots” from sun damage

Nonsense - a lot of men don't bother with skin care and get far more sun damage than women. David Beckham is my age but has far more lines on his face than I do, and he probably does wear a bit of moisturiser.

Lines on a man's face are much more tolerated and normalised by society. It's misogyny/internalised misogyny.

Complete myth.

Something incels spout as a way of trying to feel better than females. Saying that we lose our "market value" as we age. Gross.

You get the odd anomaly that ages exceptionally well, e.g George Clooney, Louis theroux (sorry weird example), but the vast majority of people who age just look like themselves but older, and thst applies to men and women, neither look better or worse than the other.

I used to hate this trope and think it was misogynist (well tbf it’s definitely misogynist) but to be brutally honest the beauty of the female body relies more on fat deposits i.e. breasts/boobs etc which are more likely to lose shape as they age. and, of course, go through pregnancy and childbirth. If men don’t gain weight then their bodies can look pretty similar aged 50 to aged 20. Some women too of course but it’s rarer.

agree there’s no difference in facial aging, and the outsize emphasis put on female beauty is all cultural/misogynistic. Even if men age badly, they are often still thought of as desirable!

I've read that female skin is thinner and has less collagen than male skin, so it's possible that women age visibly worse (more wrinkling, sagging etc) at skin level. Men also have the advantage of being able to cover facial changes with beards/moustaches.

Surely it’s totally up to the individual?
Some men age well as do some women, whilst some men age badly as do some women.

Men also have the advantage of being able to cover facial changes with beards/moustaches

But women tend to wear more make up.

What a load of shite. If anything it's the complete opposite now with so many women getting botox and fillers.

I was at a 25 year school reunion and all the women looked great, nice skin, good hair. The men were mostly grey and considerably wrinklier!

I didn’t really think of artificial cosmetic procedures that mask ageing. I don’t think they are necessarily a good thing, women shouldn’t be socially expected to stay youthful looking.