Quote of the Day - 2/27/2012

The significant fact about women in fiction as in life, is that after youth and childbearing are past, they have no plot, there is no story to be told about them. – Carolyn Heilbrun as quotes by Terri Apter in Secret Paths: Women in the New Midlife

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Really? It certainly seems to be a frequent perspective in popular media…that doesn’t make it a ‘fact’ though. Does this reflect what is going on in society or simply turning a blind eye? It seems largely out of step with the trends in the past 40 years. With the baby boomer women becoming part of the ‘after youth and childbearing’ set, they are a demographic that will have financial and emotional clout for years to come.

It bothers me to think that any major life segment would be such that ‘there is no story to be told about them.’ For many women, the ‘after youth and childbearing’ stage of their life may be over 40 years! The women I know in this phase are doing so many things….there are new stories that they tell on themselves and others every time I see them. They are matriarchs…enjoying the plot and story of their lives.