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In modern societies, a male-dominated concept of beauty is often imposed on women. But what is ideal beauty?
“Ideal beauty” is a historical illusion. When we look at history, we see that this ideal has constantly changed. At one time, larger bodies symbolizing fertility were considered desirable; later, fragility came to the fore, and today we once again live in an era where thinness and delicacy are aestheticized.
The collective imagination that defines ideal beauty is deeply shaped by masculine codes. It positions the female body as an object to be viewed and a source of pleasure. Modern capitalism has transformed this masculine gaze into a major source of profit. Today, every stage of maintaining the body as young, fit, and beautiful—or, more precisely, within dominant aesthetic standards—has become part of capitalist accumulation. This is a huge industry we are talking about.
The body ceases to be merely a personal space of existence and instead becomes a form of social and economic capital.
Against all these social pressures, there is also the reality of aging. Thinking of aging as a woman in Türkiye: why does growing older amplify women’s vulnerability and highlight gender inequalities in terms of beauty standards?
This is actually a very deep issue. First, we need to understand aging itself, and then the “feminization of old age.”
Aging is a biological reality, but what we call “old age” is not simply a natural process; it is also a powerful social construct. For women in particular, aging exposes them to the harshest consequences of a value system built around the body. In modern society, the female body has long been defined by youth, attractiveness, and productivity. When these qualities fade, women are often rendered invisible. Precisely for this reason, aging for women is not merely a physical change, as it also entails a transformation in social status and perceived value. While men are frequently described as “charismatic,” “experienced,” or “mature” with age, women are often framed as experiencing “loss.”
This is where the phenomenon known as the “feminization of old age” comes into play. Women are living longer, but they are also growing old poorer, more insecure, and lonelier. Workplace inequalities, the disproportionate burden of caregiving, and economic dependence further deepen women’s vulnerability in old age.
Beauty standards make this fragility even more visible. Because society often views the aging female body not with patience, but with expectations of “correction” and concealment. Hair dye, Botox, fillers, facelifts, longevity treatments… erasing signs of age is presented almost as a necessity. As if aging were not a stage of life but a mistake that needs to be corrected. Women are guided toward anti-aging products or cosmetic procedures to maintain their place in society. Research shows that while the motivation to “be healthy” is high among women aged 40-44, nearly half (48%) still emphasize the desire to “feel happier and more cared for with a slim body.” Because staying in the game requires it. An already unequal system becomes a multi-layered site of discrimination when aging is involved. It’s not just that you’re a woman—you’re also an older woman.
Popular figures reinforce these pressures of perpetual youth and push others to measures themselves against impossible standards.
Society perpetuates certain stereotypes about older women. How would you assess these perceptions?
Society’s perception of aging women is actually an extension of its ongoing efforts to fit women into a certain mold and control them at every stage of life. When women step outside the reproductive roles assigned to them by the system, society quickly tries to confine them within a different mold.
There are many stereotypes about aging women in society. One is “the grandmother who has done her duty, hung up her apron, and now only provides care,” while another depicts them as “menopausal, grumpy, and diminished.” These stereotypes strip women of their presence in the public sphere and of their personal desires, reducing them to domestic figures whose role is limited to caregiving—looking after grandchildren, maintaining the household.
In fact, aging can be a period when women are at their strongest, drawing on their life experience and economic resources. This empowered stage, where they make their own decisions and rely less on external approval, can, however, be perceived as a threat.
This empowered stage, where they make their own decisions and rely less on external approval, can, however, be perceived as a threat.
In one of your articles, you write, “Life has never been fair to women. However, menopause is perhaps one of the loneliest and least discussed thresholds of the female experience.” The effects of menopause on women’s health are still often overlooked, yet the same social stereotypes continue to shape perceptions of women who have gone through it. What would you like to say about the prejudices surrounding their social and sexual lives?
Life has never been entirely fair to women. Menopause is one of the most silent thresholds of this inequality. It is not merely a biological process; it is also a stage in which the social meanings attached to the female body are reinforced. What is striking is that when women are young, their bodies are subjected to intense scrutiny—every movement is examined. As they age, however, they are confronted with invisibility. Prejudices surrounding the social and sexual lives of postmenopausal women are part of this very mechanism of erasure. I am not even referring specifically to women’s sexuality. After all, even the desires and pleasures of young women are often treated as areas to be controlled and restricted. This is because the system primarily values the female body for its reproductive capacity. As Michel Foucault observed, the body is a site over which power is exercised. When a woman ages, she falls outside these societal expectations.
Society often assumes that with menopause, womanhood, desire, and the social value of the female body come to an end. As if womanhood were defined solely by fertility. In reality, though, this is far from the case. Women’s social lives, productivity, and intellectual and emotional worlds do not disappear with menopause. For many women, this stage marks a transition into a new and meaningful phase of life.
Today, hormone replacement therapies can address menopause-related symptoms such as hot flashes, insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, and decreased sexual desire. Even small amounts of testosterone supplements have been shown to improve sexual desire, arousal, orgasm, and pleasure and reduce gender-related anxiety and distress in postmenopausal women experiencing hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a comprehensive medical approach that supplements the body with synthetic or biologically identical forms of essential hormones that the body can no longer produce naturally or whose production has significantly declined. But the important question here is: who actually has access to these treatments? In a context where information about menopause is limited or outdated, only a small number of women are able to adequately support their own bodies during this stage of life.
Consequently, the issue is not menopause itself, but the silence and stereotypes that surround it. That’s why we need to talk about menopause more: more openly, more loudly.
