I was excited to be asked to write this guest post for 'Advantages of Age', a UK based organisation focused on 'ageing differently', and one that 'The Sunday Times Style Magazine' called 'the punks of getting older.'
I've written a piece about the ongoing reclaimation by myself and others of some of the 'shaming' words used to belittle us such as Hag, Crone and Harpy, and referencing books by Sharon Blackie, Caroline Magennis, Jean Shinoda Bolen and Victoria Smith that each use these words in their titles.
I also reflect (you know me!) on why, despite this zeitgeisty shift, it still might be hard for women to speak up for themselves...
Yours, cronishly, Jody x -
Did you have a double-take then, seeing the words ‘joy’ and ‘opinionated older women’ in one sentence? Surely a typo... Because from the ‘scold's bridle’ torture device used to silence ‘nagging’ wives and condemned witches onwards (and probably long before too), the voices of post-reproductive women have not been welcomed, let alone celebrated by patria…
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