Today Show: Why Are We Obsessed With Looking Younger?

The desire for a youthful appearance is an age-old phenomenon, but with the growing number of teenagers turning to plastic surgery and the belief that a beauty premium exists in the workplace, some women have just about had enough.

Today's Meredith Vieira and Kathie Lee Gifford sat down to talk about the American obsession with looking younger with make-up artist and CEO Bobbi Brown and Galina Espinoza, the Editor-in-Chief of Latina.

An American preoccupation with celebrities and "the lure of the fresh young face" makes it "hard for women to feel they can age with dignity and grace in this country," says Espinoza.

Brown points out the need for more positive role models in the public eye, such as Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, women in Hollywood who embody graceful aging.

The women all agree that embracing aging involves changing your mindset rather than trying to turn back the clock. "It's about resetting your brain... It's not about how you look; it's how you feel and how you think," says Brown.

Gifford approaches the aging process with her trademark sense of humor, but also through a so-called "spiritual lens," asserting, "The women who are obsessed with staying young are women who do not understand or believe that they are already incredibly valued... If you understand there is a purpose for you right now, then you are not looking backwards and mourning what's past."

But when Vieira expresses a fear of being invisible, a sentiment shared by many women in their 50s, Gifford counters by reminding her that "you don't become invisible to the people who love you. Your husband, your family, friends, me."

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Comments

[alohajane90]

07:49 PM on 02/11/2011

It's hilarious commentary coming from Kathie Lee Gifford, who has had massive plastic surgery to tighten, lift, and seriously youth-i-fy her face.

[Absolon]

02:10 PM on 02/11/2011

"WE" are not obsessed with looking younger. Only the boomers are. Their kids aren't....for obvious reasons. But, then, neither are their parents who are just fine wrinkled. No, it's only the boomers who get whipped into hysteria over what having lived for half a century has done to them. Remember, we told you not to slather up with Bain De Soliel and bake-bake-bake in the sun!

[RhiannonRings]

02:51 PM on 02/12/2011

This boomer isn't youth obsessed! I stayed out of the sun, too.

[demorick]

11:06 AM on 02/11/2011

I recently saw Gena Rowlands on an episdoe of NCIS, which was a great surprise since I've always thought she was beautiful. I googled her and found that she's 80 years old. I'm sure she's had some cosmetic surgery, but she certainly hasn't gone overboard like so many others. I've seen several older actresses popping up on the small screen with some frequency, and they all have aged beautifully. I think Hollywood's obsession with a youthful appearace, in conjunction with Madison Avenue's advertising it, has led to this insanity that it's all right to start getting plastic surgery in your early 20s...We have become such a narcissistic society that it's become pathetic...Whatever happened to aging gracefully (says the pudgy, graying 51 year old)?

[ColumbiaPatricia]

10:08 AM on 02/11/2011

At age 51 I started experiencing workplace discrimination based on my age. I am personally fine with my aging, my mindset is great, filled with acceptance of my aging body.

However, society and work in particular are extremely obsessed with youth and being thin. Now that it is affecting my work life I have no choice but to use retionol, get fillers and work out like mad in order to keep my job.

It does not help that jobs are hard to find. I have given up on finding a man my age but I cannot give up on earning a living. This is depressing. I was not prepared to do combat in my 50s just to keep my job.

[Red45]

10:53 AM on 02/11/2011

I've been looking for 5 years for a full time job, after a career as an award-winning marketing writer. At first, I had no trouble getting interviews but, of course, as soon as they took a look at me (clearly 50+), the interviews were over. It's happened so many times, I quit counting. I have a part-time job that I love, rent rooms in my house for extra income, started getting my social security early (which I really hated to do), sold everything of value, and borrowed up to the hilt. Now that I've been out of the marketing writer profession for several years, no one will even interview me. What's the most ironic thing about this? My writing skills are the best they've ever been. Oddly, I'm still happy and healthy and enjoying my life more than ever.

ColumbiaPatricia---It's not our fault. We didn't do anything wrong. All the best of luck to you.

[sunnybunny]

09:41 AM on 02/13/2011

I had to change professions entirely at the ripe old age of 34 because of the culture in the new state I moved to percieving mature ladies as "not proper" to look at. I was an exotic dancer for many years (in several different states) and was forced to find a new career as an insurance agent because I moved from Florida to Arkansas and when I got here I was suddenly "too old". I find it disturbing as well as personally depressing even after establishing myself in a new field.

[jgrh]

02:16 PM on 02/10/2011

There is a gigantic age bias in our country. I think it's important to look relatively youthful in order to succeed. However, people who pay for cosmetic procedures for their teenage girls are insane. What an ignorant message to send to your daughter. On another note; I take a really hard, but rewarding exercise class called "body sculpt." I was working away in there and completely unbidden, a woman came up to me and said " I think you should go to the low impact class. That's where the older people in the gym are happiest." I was so startled, it took me days to get over it.

[RhiannonRings]

02:54 PM on 02/12/2011

What nerve...shoulda smacked her one!

[Ian Faus]

08:29 AM on 02/10/2011

Beauty is important to women because they associate their "worth" to it. They believe men do as well and the lack of desirability on their part would leave them alone. That is what most people are afraid of Loneliness.

[UberdanSounds]

04:15 PM on 02/10/2011

Yup, so true. For me, I find that being alone gives me comfort & makes me feel grounded. Then again, I'm a loner.

[hereinlou]

01:51 AM on 02/10/2011

I love how Bobbi Brown got all shifty in her seat when Kathy Gifford started talking... she was all *uh, she doesn't speak for me*

[Red45]

11:40 PM on 02/09/2011

For me, looking younger than my actual age is about competing with younger people for jobs. Otherwise, I love my wrinkles, my eight grey hairs, and all the benefits of life experience, so looking younger isn't a priority except in job interviews.

[ColumbiaPatricia]

10:10 AM on 02/11/2011

I feel exactly the same. So I take offense when articles or media target women to "stop trying to be young" It is not our mindset that needs work, it is society's and particularly the work place.

[Courtenay Jones]

09:18 PM on 02/09/2011

Wow I just watched the video I LOVE LOVE Kathie Lee Gifford. Everyone needs a friend like her...

[Courtenay Jones]

09:05 PM on 02/09/2011

It is funny because no beauty can take precedence over the beauty that radiates from inside. Older women are most likely to have this because of so many experiences. I can understand wanting to look like a shiner version of yourself but women wanting to turn back the clock I don't completely understand. Then again I may never because black don't crack...

[PresidentRobertBooth]

08:16 PM on 02/09/2011

Women are obsessed with looking younger because they think men will always be attracted to a younger looking model.
 
Ultimately they forget that men also like the self-confident older sexually assured woman.

[Courtenay Jones]

09:06 PM on 02/09/2011

EXACTLY...

[drwtsn]

07:33 PM on 02/09/2011

Meredith Vieira and Kathie Lee Gifford - have either of these women gone before a camera without at least 30 minutes with a make-up specialist?

[Courtenay Jones]

09:13 PM on 02/09/2011

yea they have...they had sans make-up day not too long ago...

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

05:54 PM on 02/09/2011

Best news ever: stay young, and you will live longer. Was that a joke?

Or is it true that those who manage to remain a certain age have a chance to die older? I doubt it. Suppose that I manage to be 25 for ten years in a row. Doesn't that mean that my chances to actually die at at that age will also increase?

Think about it!