Dawn Images

Is there anything more obnoxious than seeing a woman being put down on social media for absolutely no reason? Recently, a “fan” left a pretty rude comment on model and actor Ainy Jaffri’s Instagram and it made us realise that we need to talk about why we hate seeing women age.

We’re not talking about seeing them celebrate a birthday, we’re talking about seeing a fine line, wrinkle or, God forbid, a grey hair.

For a moment, let’s set aside the deeply troubling fact that people feel they have the right to comment on what a person’s face looks like, whether they did something to it or not. Let’s instead dive down to the root of the problem — the fact that we hate to see people, especially women, age.

To visibly age is to ‘let go’ of oneself. Do you not care about how you look, women are asked if they let their grey hair grow out or don’t use expensive creams to try to cover their wrinkles.

Ageing is a normal process, yet women, especially those in the spotlight, are judged very harshly for it. If they let their wrinkles or lines be, they’re judged. If they get work done to hide those wrinkles and lines, they’re doubly judged. There’s no winning, not unless you can somehow stay 25 forever.

There’s a myth that people age ‘badly’ or ‘poorly’, as if there’s some one-size-fits-all measurement for how people will age. Some people will develop lines around their eyes, others will see their cheeks start to sag — all of this is normal and beautiful and not something to be judged for.

Our faces change with age — no one will look the same at 40 as they did at 20, nor should they. But whether your face changes a lot or a little, it has nothing to do with anyone but you.