There's an inherent unfairness in ageist body expectations & beauty standards. I'd argue that Helen Mirren @ 75 looks more bangin than Taylor Swift @ 30. There's a certain serenity, acceptance, love in the way HM carries herself that TS hasn't yet earned. #DeepThought Thread 1/6

I probs had a better *looking* body at 18 or 25, but I have a better *feeling* body now at 45, after 2 babies, more than a decade of hula training, and a healthier diet. I'm more aware, prouder of my body's power & beauty. My scars & jiggles & stretch marks each tell a story 2/6

It's unfair to diminish Blanche from Golden Girls (it always circles back to GG dunnit) as "the slut." I think that Blanche simply had the most complicated relationship w/ her body & sexuality than all the other GGs, having been raised as "a lady" in the antebellum South. 3/6

When she got to be A Certain Age™, Blanche just leaned in to having a bangin bod & loving sex. But we as a Western/American society had to play that up for laughs bc our Puritanical values forbid us from taking pleasure in our bodies or in growing older. Youth=beauty, here. 4/6

I'm researching Babaylan studies & the call of the indigenous for a WIP & I want to reclaim the power & wisdom that our Babaylan cultivated abt the body & its journey. (That's a whole TED talk for another time) I'll leave y'all w/ this from Leny Mendoza Strobel's BABAYLAN 5/6

Love your whole Self. Love your body, at every age, in any state. Scars are the mark of a warrior who's fought well. Jiggles mean you love food & drink & life. Stretch marks mean you're growing. Celebrate your body often, alone or w/ another. You're bangin, just as you are6/6

(I kindof love that a T*ylor Sw*ft fan account bot just RT'ed this thread that starts "Helen Mirren is more bangin than TS")

#ReadingIsFundamental