Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender discrimination and mental illness.

Shields first realized that she had reached middle age while walking through the streets of New York City with her two daughters. Passersby were admiring her daughters instead of Shields. She recalls a similar example when doing a photoshoot and seeing a wrinkle captured on camera. As she moved into her fifties, she realized that her “internal sense of self” did not match how people viewed her (2). They seemed troubled that Shields was getting older, but Shields finds it troubling to see women constantly yearning rather than living in and appreciating the moment.

Shields remembers thinking of her current age, 59, as “old” when she was a young woman. However, she does not feel old. In some societies, age is approached with respect, but it appears problematic in her world. Ageism is a form of bigotry that remains socially acceptable in contemporary US society. For example, brands target younger generations who have far less spending power than middle-aged demographics, who, ironically, rarely appear in advertisements. Middle-aged women are treated like they are invisible, as if their social value declines after they pass childbearing age.