Women over 50--dried up prunes or sexy seniors, or something else?

First, an announcement: The Advice Sisters Bulletin Boards has just launched another topical board: one for Women's Issues. http://advicesisters.net/simplemachinesforum/

Please come by and visit, sign up, and participate. A bulletin board is only as good as the comments it gets. This is a new board (our last one was sabatoged by porno spammers) so we appreciate all the support and feedback we can get to re-energize the discussions, once again. If you have any trouble accessing the boards, signing up, or posting, please contact me at advicesisters (at) advicesisters (dot) net and let me know? Thanks in advance for this.

Recently, I read a post from an inquiring person who wanted to hear from (and I quote) "everyday women over 50 who don't feel as beautiful as they used to and want advice from older women on how, when their looks started to fade, they were able to still feel sexy, beautiful and fabulous...even with wrinkles and all! "

The query went on to say: "Just because guys may not be trying to whistle at you on the street anymore, it doesn't mean you aren't sexy or beautiful..."

My first reaction was "is this a joke?" Then I realized it must have been launched by someone quite young, ho has been trained to believe that at middle age, women simply become "sexless, unappetizing" beings. But interestingly, the responses (and there were quite a few) ranged from "well, thank heavens I'm not old, like near 40, so I don't have to worry about this yet," to: "I'm over 50 and this is a bunch of sterotypical bull," to: "What has age got to do with being sexy or attractive in the first place?"

Although men also have issues with ageism and looking older, the real burden to look "hot" and "young," is placed on women.

What's your take on this? Is someone over 40 or 50 or (yikes!) 60+ automatically bound to beocome a frumpy, eldery, unsexy woman who is only good as a Mom" or "Grandma?" Is this just an old-fashioned notion that sterotypes (and dooms) several generations of women? Is it something else?

I'd really like to keep the discussion going here and on the The Advice Sisters Bulletin Boards because it is an issue every woman faces. If you are under 40, leave your comments and ask questions? Are you fearful of aging? Are you doing things to stop the aging process even if you are well under 30? Is there real life after 50 or 60? If you are over 40, do you feel invisible or unattractive? What has mid-life taught you about the aging process? leave your comments, and please provide some "wisdom" to the young-uns.

Thanks....let's get the conversation, started.

Alison