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Pakistani society is unforgiving when it comes to women and age. Women are told time and again that their worth is tied to their youth and the internalisation of this belief has led many young women to feel like they have some expiration date. Women in the entertainment industry are especially vulnerable to this, being in the public eye almost constantly. It then comes with little surprise that some of them are willing to go to great lengths to keep themselves from aging.

However, actor Zara Noor Abbas took to Instagram recently to call out these practices for being harmful. Calling aging a “natural and beautiful truth”, Abbas asked women to stop relying on medication to lose weight or lighten skin tones, asserting, “Drug abuse with addiction is the worst kind of addiction.” She emphasised the need to focus on intellect, saying, “Vanity in very short lived. Work on your mind. Your brain. That will last.”

Abbas is the latest in a series of leading stars to call out societal attitudes towards aging, especially when it comes to actors. In a recent interview with Fuchsia Magazine, Mehwish Hayat talked about challenges faced by women actors in getting cast after showing even the slightest signs of age. She compared this to similarly aged male actors who had no issues being cast as leads, even alongside girls half their age. Drawing a contrast with Hollywood, Hayat said Pakistani cinema needs to adopt the practice of positively portraying women in middle age, particularly as changemakers. She also said that change must come from within and that women actors need to embrace their own ages.

In the same vein, Mahira Khan spoke to Independent Urdu in a recent interview about media coverage surrounding actor’s ages. She talked about how her own mother questioned whether it was wise to be honest about age as an actor. Khan remarked that her age is a part of her authentic self and that she wouldn’t hide a part of who she is, no matter what anyone says.

Earlier, veteran actor Mahnoor Baloch lamented recurring plots and storylines that had experienced actors playing young male leads while female actors of similar experience couldn’t find roles. She said, “Even though the male actor is 55 years old, he would still play a hero. But a woman his age would get the role of his mother.”

Bushra Ansari, another veteran with an illustrious career spanning decades, faced intense trolling after posting a video of her acting along to the song ‘Saathi Rey’ by Arko. Comments on her post told her to “act her age” and shamed her for ‘inappropriate’ behaviour. Ansari, never one to shy away from living out loud, called these ageist trolls out for being jealous and blowing innocent fun out of proportion.