About the Book
Helps women break through the tired and hurtful stereotypes of aging to better reflect who they are, how they live, and what they want as they age.
Who hasn’t heard the stereotypes about women of a "certain age?” That’s the age when women become invisible, irrelevant, undesirable, asexual, unhinged, dried-up, hormonal messes. It’s when women quickly slide into fragility and become forgetful, passive, weak, feeble, debilitated, disabled, dependent, and depressed. Or so the story goes. Not only are those outdated narratives sexist and ageist, they are also damaging to women’s physical, emotional, financial, romantic, and sexual health. It’s time to change them.
In Not Too Old for That, Vicki Larson helps change the narrative about being a woman at midlife and older. She questions what we’ve been told aging would be like and encourages us to instead ask ourselves, what do we want it to be like, and how can we get there? The key is to be curious, open-minded, and intentional about the ways we are becoming our future selves.We have an opportunity to create new narratives of aging as a woman, ones that value women at all stages of life, not just youth, and it starts with us. Once the stereotypes that have held women back are broken down, women can move past them and rather than feel helpless as the years add up, they can discover and tap into just how much agency they have. Not only will this book help to create a less-ageist, less-sexist, more-inclusive future, it will release our daughters and all young women from a similar future.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Wednesday Martin
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Amazing Invisible Woman
Chapter 2: ‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’
Chapter 3: I Do, I Don’t, I Won’t
Chapter 4: I Feel Bad About More Than Just My Neck
Chapter 5: From Mean Girls to BFFs and Golden Girls
Chapter 6: ‘It’s Probably Just Your Hormones’
Chapter 7: Investments Are a Girl’s Best Friend
Chapter 8: A Love Letter to Women
Bibliography
Notes
Index
About the Author
About the Author :
Vicki Larson is a longtime award-winning journalist, the lifestyles editor, columnist, and writer at a San Francisco Bay Area newspaper, and the coauthor of the groundbreaking book, The New I Do: Reshaping Marriage for Skeptics, Realists and Rebels, named a Best Book of 2014 by PopSugar. A resident of Marin County, California, her writing can be found in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Aeon, WHYY, and numerous other publications, including Quartz, HuffPost, and Medium.
Review :
Larson starts each chapter with an inspiring quote from the likes of writer Erica Jong, singer Beyoncé, and designer Norma Kamali (“See your life in the long distance”). And she ends each chapter with “things to think about,” including one's sex life. Readers will be encouraged to embrace aging and feel more valued, vibrant, financially secure, and open to love. Larson's message is empowering.
This is what I’m currently reading. Inspiring and oh so true. If you have entered the “invisible” stage, or getting there, this one is for you.
In her insightful and engaging way, Vicki Larson offers the wisest advice about growing old: Own it! Older women will benefit tremendously from that themselves, and so will all the other younger women and girls, who will be able to see how it is done and aspire to the same for themselves.
Not Too Old for That reimagines the aging experience for women. Vicki Larson challenges the stereotypes we’ve inherited while also taking a critical look at the intersections impacting many women in midlife today. A powerful and important read.
A fresh look at women's experiences of and attitudes toward aging, across demographics and circumstances. Larson explores the new ways some women negotiate their intimate relationships, and the new ways others fashion satisfying unpartnered lives by choice. From navigating sexual intimacy to bucking conventional expectations, Larson reports on how women move through midlife and beyond. For anyone concerned about aging and anyone who is welcoming it, Not Too Old for That delivers.
Part memoir, part reference and part self-help, Not Too Old for That provides a fact-filled guide to help all women prepare for their golden years. You’re never too young to start, according to Larson.
