Martha Stewart just broke a record. She became the oldest personality to feature in the magazine’s special swimsuit issue Sports Illustrated. Aberration or sign of progress? Our two columnists discuss it.
Alexandre Sirois : What a great marketing stunt for the magazine Sports Illustrated. Ask popular Martha Stewart, 81, to pose for her special swimsuit issue. Result: mission accomplished, everyone is talking about it. The question that kills: should we rejoice? The answer is necessarily complex. But from the outset, I answer yes. For the simple and good reason that it’s a snub to a media industry where older people are underrepresented and too often associated with negative stereotypes.
Nathalie Collard : Excellent marketing move indeed, for ET magazine for Martha Stewart who, obviously, is having a lot of fun. Good for her, it’s her choice and I respect it. On the other hand, this photo does not please me at all. We replace the negative stereotypes of older women with another stereotype: the woman-object of desire. I see a magazine that tells us: don’t give up, ladies, be sexy to the coffin, that’s your supreme value. Can women age in peace without this constant pressure to be desirable?
Alexandre Sirois : Let’s be clear: this special annual issue is a completely outdated concept and it is understandable that those responsible for the magazine are seeking by all means to justify its relevance. But in this context, to choose Martha Stewart – or, like last year, the septuagenarian Maye Musk – is, in my opinion, to make the most of the situation. “Usually I’m driven by the paycheck, but this time I was driven by the idea of showing everyone that a woman my age can still look good and feel good,” Martha Stewart said in an interview in THE wall street journal. Other seniors certainly want more media attention, but they don’t get the chance often enough.
Nathalie Collard : Interesting that you name Maye Musk, another gorgeous woman who can afford luxury treatments and lavish clothes. I do not question the motivations of one and the other to want to expose their beauty. Again, it’s the subtext that bothers me. The idea that this cover page reflects a change in mentality is completely bogus. What kind of beauty do we value here? A pastiche of a 20 or 30 year old woman in a bathing suit. But beauty at 80 is different, and it should be celebrated, too. I know plenty of older women who are beautiful without being “material” to Sports Illustrated. These are the women who are invisible in society. I don’t see how this picture of Martha Stewart helps make old age any more acceptable. On the contrary, I believe that it puts unbearable pressure on women who have been receiving the same message since the age of 10 or 12: there is no salvation outside seduction.
Alexandre Sirois : I will not contradict you on this subject. And this is what is also reproached, with good reason, to a good number of women’s magazines. I still believe, however, that this public relations stunt makes old age more visible. I had interviewed Janette Bertrand about old age – with our colleague Judith Lachapelle – for a book of interviews with octogenarians and nonagenarians, 80, 90, 100 per hour. Among other things, she deplored that seniors do not occupy a large enough place in the media landscape in Quebec. And she said she was convinced that we lack, here, “models of active octogenarians”. It is perhaps no coincidence that it was in the United States that an 81-year-old woman was thought of for this photo shoot. We are talking about a country where the president (Joe Biden) is 80 years old and his most serious rival (Donald Trump) turns 77 next month. That too, by the way, is a snub to ageism.
Nathalie Collard : I’m glad you cite the example of two elderly men who were both presidents of the United States, a crying example of the double standard that reigns in our society. As they grow older, men are seen as wise. They are said to be getting better, they are celebrated, and they are given the reins of power. Women, they lose their value as they age, they are discarded. I agree with Janette: there is a lack of positive role models of older people, especially women. Octogenarians on, involved, who bite into life, there are plenty of them. And with the aging of the Quebec population, we will see more and more of them. Maybe then old age will stop being scary. And that women will no longer need to ward it off in order to be appreciated as they are.
Alexandre Sirois : Old age will probably never cease to frighten us – after all, getting old, who sees that as a good thing? But I wish, like you, that the elders here are more visible. Let them be invited to all the platforms and let them be part of all the debates. And I would add: that we treat them with more deference. Ageism is a bad thing. I’m still embarrassed by how, at the start of the pandemic, so many seniors were infantilized. Martha Stewart’s stunt allows us to re-discuss these fundamental questions.
Nathalie Collard : Yes, at least we talk about it. But what saddens me is that these discussions always have the same trigger: the appearance of women. Last year it was Lisa Laflamme’s gray hair, this year it’s Martha Stewart’s swimsuit. And implicitly, this great sigh of relief: phew, they are still presentable… for their age. Me, my inspiration, I find it elsewhere: in women who are committed, who have things to say. Do you know what women I would put on the front page of a magazine if I were the editor? Suzanne Loiselle and Marie-Paule Lebel, who fought for the tenants of the RPA du Mont-Carmel. They were warmly applauded during their visit to Everybody talks about it and everyone was impressed by their vitality and courage. That reassures me for the future.