A magazine dedicated to celebrating the complex lives of mature professional women thinks that the best way to honour them is to help them try to look younger. Photo / Thinkstock
A magazine dedicated to celebrating the complex lives of mature professional women thinks that the best way to honour them is to help them try to look younger. Photo / Thinkstock
Ladies, what's a fitting reward for being ambitious, stylish, beautiful, passionate? Something that speaks to the hearts of smart, successful women in 2015?
Would you give them ... wrinkle cream? Of course you wouldn't.
So what the heck was More thinking? The monthly magazine for "women of style and substance" just announced its new "Women with More" contest to celebrate the wide-ranging accomplishments of readers around the country. Contestants must submit a photo and an essay explaining why they have more ambition, style, beauty, or passion than, well, other women.
The first 300 entrants get a bottle of Roc Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Serum. The top four winners get a New York photo shoot and a complete Roc skincare package.
Take that in for a moment. A magazine dedicated to celebrating the complex lives of mature professional women thinks that the best way to honour them is to help them try to look younger.
And I was having such a good week.
Two women in the 2016 presidential race and, for the moment, no one was talking about their looks. A female comic performed at the White House Correspondents dinner. The new attorney general - the first African-American woman - was finally confirmed.
Exactly the sort of subjects More likes to highlight in its thick, glossy pages. Founded in 1998, it was the first upscale lifestyle magazine explicitly marketed to women over 40. The editors redesigned the magazine five years ago to include 30-something readers, and again this year to draw in more high-end subscribers and advertisers. The average reader is 48 years old, and the new editorial focus will be on "reinvention."
"We are a magazine for who we like to call 'the fabulous women,'" editor in chief Lesley Jane Seymour told Women's Wear Daily in January. "We like to keep it to those women who are professional, managerial, with really high income." She also named Betsy Fischer Martin, former executive producer of Meet the Press, the magazine's Washington editor. All things considered, an encouraging sign for women of a certain age.
And then, the wrinkle cream contest. Which says everything about the schizophrenic reality of women and aging.
"Chasing youth is a war I'm not going to win," said cover girl Téa Leoni, 48, in the magazine's March issue. "It's not like I'm thrilled to turn around and catch my can in the mirror, but I can see now how much of my happiness could be a victim of trying to stay young and desirable. And it feels like peace and victory to be relieved of that burden."
The irony is that Hollywood never lets a middle-aged woman - even one playing the secretary of state - lay that burden down. Comedian Amy Schumer just did a devastating X-rated bit on the expiration date of women in show business, that flip-the-switch moment when an actress goes from love interest to someone's mum.
And it's not just actresses. Politicians and television anchors of both genders know exactly how high-definition cameras highlight age and imperfections. There's more pressure on women to look young to keep their jobs, but plenty of men and women in Washington have hedged their bets with Botox, fillers and plastic surgery.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. In fact, I'm very laissez-faire when it comes to personal choice. You want to drop $160 on La Mer skin cream? Your money. A nip or tuck? If it makes you happy, although too many women end up looking like caricatures of themselves. Personally, I've been wary of face lifts since The First Wives Club author Olivia Goldsmith died after suffering complications from a minor chin tuck.
Politicians and television anchors of both genders know exactly how high-definition cameras highlight age and imperfections. Photo / Thinkstock
We all - men and women - have our vanities, large and small, and the only question is how much they dominate our lives. As a woman long past 40, I'm bombarded by cultural messages that I could look better, which is always defined as thinner and younger. Once, during a black-tie gala, I sat next to a prominent plastic surgeon who proceeded to enthusiastically detail the various ways he could improve my face. It was ... memorable. And kind of hilarious.
I asked More why, of all the prizes they could give, the editors chose beauty products. Roc is the contest sponsor, publisher Jeannine Shao Collins explained in a statement, and the brand perfectly aligns with the magazine's goal of "celebrating confident, successful and beautiful women, both inside and out." But apparently we need help: the products, she said, are "dedicated to enhancing women's confidence as they age."
It's human nature to fuss over a gray hair or a frown line, and little comfort when a well-meaning friend repeats the old trope, "Wrinkles add character." Mostly it means we're getting older, with all the gifts and challenges that age brings. But it's demeaning when a women's magazine tells me that the reward for that wisdom and experience is wrinkle cream. That the best way to age is to not look old.
Here's the secret that magazines don't tell you: People who love you don't care about your wrinkles. People who don't value you or can make money off you do care about your wrinkles - and want you to care, too.
These are the things I worry about: My son's happiness. Being a good mother and friend. The economy. Income inequality. Urban violence. Partisan namecalling. ISIS. Retirement. Cruelty to children and animals. The pile of unread novels beside my bed. And, yes, wrinkles when I see a harsh reflection in the mirror, but I worry more about heart disease or breast cancer, because crow's feet won't kill you.
So I'm skipping the magazine contest. All entries must include a non-refundable $25 processing fee, so even the first 300 who get the $23 wrinkle cream are out $2 according to my calculations.
Instead, in honour of all the mums, aunts, sisters and friends who want more for their lives, I'm donating $25 to the Jeannette Rankin Women's Scholarship Fund, which is named after the first woman elected to Congress and helps low-income women 35 and older complete college.
Here's to all you beautiful, stylish, ambitious, passionate women - wrinkles and all.
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