Martha Stewart just broke a record. She became the oldest celebrity to appear in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit special. Aberration or sign of progress? Our two columnists discuss it.
Posted at 1:11 am. Updated at 05:00
Alexandre Sirois : What a great marketing stunt for Sports Illustrated magazine. Ask the popular Martha Stewart, 81, to pose for her special swimsuit issue. Result: mission accomplished, everyone is talking about it. The question that kills: should we be happy? The answer is necessarily complex. But from the start I answer yes. For the simple and good reason that it is a snub to a media industry where older people are underrepresented and all too often associated with negative stereotypes.
Nathalie Collard : Indeed an excellent marketing move for ET Magazine for Martha Stewart who is obviously having a great time. Good for her, it’s her choice and I respect her. On the other hand, I don’t like this photo at all. We replace the negative stereotypes of older women with another stereotype: the woman as an object of desire. I see a magazine telling us, “Don’t give up ladies, be sexy up to the coffin, that’s your highest worth.” Without this constant pressure to be desirable, can women age in peace?
Alexandre Sirois : To be clear, this annual special is a completely outdated concept, and it’s understandable that those in charge of the magazine will do everything they can to justify its relevance. But in this context, choosing Martha Stewart – or, like last year, Maye Musk, seventy – is, I think, making the best of the situation. “Usually I’m guided by paychecks, but this time I was driven by the idea of showing everyone that a woman my age can still look and feel good,” Stewart said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Other seniors certainly want more media attention, but they don’t get the chance often enough.
Nathalie Collard : Interesting that you name Maye Musk, another beautiful woman who can afford luxury treatments and lavish clothing. I don’t question either one’s motivations for wanting to flaunt their beauty. Again, it’s the subtext that bothers me. The idea that this cover reflects a change in mentality is completely wrong. What beauty do we value here? A pastiche of a 20 or 30 year old woman in a bathing suit. But beauty at 80 is different and should also be celebrated. I know a lot of older women who are beautiful without qualifying for Sports Illustrated. These are the women who are invisible in society. I don’t see how this picture of Martha Stewart is supposed to help make old age more acceptable. On the contrary, I believe it puts an unbearable pressure on women who have been receiving the same message since they were ten or twelve: There is no salvation outside of seduction.
Alexandre Sirois : I will not disagree with you on this topic. And a whole series of women’s magazines are rightly accused of this. However, I still believe that this PR stunt makes age more visible. I had interviewed Janette Bertrand – along with our colleague Judith Lachapelle – for a book of interviews with octogenarians and 90-year-olds about age, 80, 90, 100 an hour. Among other things, she complained that seniors do not have a sufficiently large place in Quebec’s media landscape. And she said she believes we lack “role models of active octogenarians” here. It’s perhaps no coincidence that an 81-year-old woman in the United States was chosen for this photo shoot. We are talking about a country where the President (Joe Biden) is 80 years old and his closest rival (Donald Trump) turns 77 next month. This, by the way, is also a snub to age discrimination.
Nathalie Collard : I am pleased that you cite the example of two elderly men who were both Presidents of the United States, a glaring example of the double standards that exist in our society. With age, men are considered wise. They are said to be better off, celebrated, and given the reins of power. Women lose their value with age, they are discarded. I agree with Janette: there is a lack of positive role models for older people, especially women. There are many 80-year-old committed people who put their teeth into life. And as Quebec’s population ages, we’ll see more and more of them. Maybe then old age will stop being scary. And that women no longer have to fight back to be appreciated for who they are.
Alexandre Sirois : Old age will probably always scare us – because who thinks it’s nice when you get old? But I wish, like you, that the elders here are more visible. Let them invite to all platforms and participate in all debates. And I would like to add: that we treat them with more respect. Ageism is a bad thing. I am still embarrassed at how so many seniors were infantilized at the start of the pandemic. Martha Stewart’s stunt allows us to revisit these fundamental questions.
Nathalie Collard : Yes, at least we talk about it. But what saddens me is that these discussions always have the same trigger: the emergence of women. Last year it was Lisa Laflamme’s gray hair, this year it’s Martha Stewart’s swimsuit. And implicitly that big sigh of relief: Phew, they’re still presentable… for their age. I, my inspiration, I find somewhere else: with women who are committed, who have something to say. Do you know which women I would put on the cover of a magazine as an editor? Suzanne Loiselle and Marie-Paule Lebel, who fought for the tenants of the RPA du Mont-Carmel. When they performed at Tout le monde en parle, they received warm applause and everyone was impressed by their vitality and courage. That gives me security for the future.