The article on gerascophobia in your last edition, triggered by comments from Jeremy Paxman, really hit the nail on the head.
I’d like to raise something that continually irritates me – what I might call “reverse ageism”.
Why do the manufacturers of walk-in baths, rising chairs, stair-lifts and the like invariably show them being used by glamorous women in their 30s rather than older models, the age-group that actually needs them?
Is it because they feel it would be insulting to old people to imply they’re “past it”? It can’t be that model agencies have no ageing models on their books.
The Guardian newspaper regularly uses in its fashion photo-shoots models of both genders with grey hair and “lived-in” faces.
Helena Newton, Ilford
