From Times Online:Gorilla-face generally strikes women in their late thirties. You wake up one morning looking like an extra from Planet of the Apes.
Gorilla-face, to give it its technical name, is an occupational hazard for the older woman. When it first strikes is largely down to genes and environmental factors, but it generally starts to happen towards the end of your thirties. You go to bed looking perfectly normal — even quite acceptable in a good light — and you wake up looking like an extra from Planet of the Apes.
What are you thoughts on Sarah's article???
From the Kathy Lette @ the Telegraph:
There's a new creature stalking the urban jungle – the cougar. She's a woman in her forties or fifties, on the hunt for younger men. A spate of American sit coms and movies are about to prowl onto our screens, documenting the mating habits of this predatory species. The tube announcement, "Mind the Gap", is about to take on a whole new meaning.
But before becoming too judgmental, let's look at the biological facts. The male of the species hits his sexual prime in his late teens, a woman in her late forties. You don't have to be Einstein to do the maths. I mean, 19 goes into 50 a hell of a lot more than 50 goes into nineteen. A toy boy's vocabulary may be small, but who cares, when he ends every sentence with a proposition?
By contrast, younger women are so insecure. They worry about breast size, body shape, cellulite, weight – they order one crouton for lunch and then share it. (Where do size zero bimbos keep their internal organs? In their handbags?) An older woman, on the other hand, is so much more relaxed in her skin. Once a woman hits fifty, a liberating "now or never" mentality takes over. Forget breast implants and botox and get a dimmer switch – the greatest sex and beauty aid known to womankind.
The statistical evidence of older man running off with younger women has been static for about thirty years. But the statistical evidence of older women running off with younger men is on a sky-rocket trajectory.
In truth, age doesn't matter – not unless you're a building or a Stilton or a grapevine. So, cougars, happy hunting. And just remember that age really is a case of mind over matter – if you don't mind, it don't matter.
From Asahi Shimbun:
Domestic violence victims often find it hard to ask for help--especially older women, who often believe that "women must be patient," say people working to help them.
Experts suspect that Japan has many "hidden" cases of domestic violence, as problems lurk deep inside seemingly normal relationships.
In fiscal 2007, of 5,121 victims of domestic violence placed under temporary protection nationwide, 269 were 60 or older, an Asahi Shimbun survey found. The newspaper gathered the figures from women's consultation centers run by each of the nation's 47 prefectures.
The total victims figure is from 46 prefectures, while the age figure was from the 45 prefectures that list data by age. In Tokushima Prefecture, 10 out of 44 victims, or more than 20 percent, were 60 or older.
Abuse of the aged is being recognized more clearly in Japan.
From the Times Online:THE conspicuous bump protruding from beneath her cardigan appears incongruous for a woman who is fast approaching her eighth decade.
However, according to her friends and colleagues, Elizabeth Munro is not the kind of person to let age stand in her way.
Next month the businesswoman is set to give birth for the first time. A few weeks later, in early July, she will celebrate her 67th birthday. The two milestones combined will make her Britain’s oldest mother with her age exceeding the previous record-holder, Patricia Rashbrook, by four years.
Record-breaking births
- The oldest woman to have given birth is Omkari Panwar, from India, who had a twin boy and girl last year. She was said to be 70. Her 77-year-old husband paid for the IVF, which the couple wanted to provide a male heir, by selling buffaloes and mortgaging his land.
- Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara, from Spain, previously held the record after having twin boys at the age of 66 following IVF in America in 2006.
- In Britain, the record belongs to Patricia Rashbrook who gave birth to a son in 2006, when she was 62. Her doctor, Severino Antinori, treated her in Russia after the law in Italy, where he formerly operated, changed to make the procedure illegal.
From Philippine News - Manila Standard Today:The symptoms are so well known they have been turned into jokes. Mood swings. Bouts of depression. Lack of interest in, even aversion to, intimacy. Grumpiness. If a woman in her 40s or 50s is exhibiting these, there is no other explanation—she must be menopausal.
The sad part is that it’s not really a joke. It’s a harsh reality women of a certain age go through, albeit in varying degrees. The heartbreaking part is that at one time or another, these women will be those dear to us: mothers, sisters, wives, aunts, colleagues, friends. Worse, the symptoms that are the subject of jokes are just some of the less serious effects of menopause. Aside from these more superficial symptoms, menopausal women are more vulnerable to osteoporosis, cardio-vascular diseases, uro-genital disorders—a poor quality of life, overall.
Dr. Joan Tan-Garcia, who holds clinic at the women’s health center of the St. Luke’s Hospital and sits as president of the Philippine Society of Climacteric Medicine, says the support given to women in this stage should be holistic. She takes pride in the hospital’s having the only active menopause clinic in the country—active in terms of providing information to as many women as possible. The hospital conducts a free lay forum every several months where experts speak on various aspects of menopause in an effort to help “maturing” women grow old gracefully and maintain a good quality of life.
