 Getting Excited About Sixty-Something—By Janet Rhodes Published: June, 2007  Persimmon Tree editorial staff and friends at the magazine's launch party at Mills College. (From left) Marcia Freedman, Sandy Boucher, Chana Bloch, Martha Boesing, Nan Gefen, Gloria Steinem, Janet Holmgren, and Sandra Butler What does it mean to be a woman over 60 in the early 21st century? Gwen Mazer, Nan Fink Geffen, and Sandra Butler asked themselves and their contemporaries this question. Each of these women has chosen to age consciously, with no trace of apology or embarrassment. As members of the baby-boomer generation and veterans of the '70s consciousness-raising era, they are creating a new paradigm: the years over 60 offer the opportunity to reinvent oneself. But their sense of possibility and discovery is seldom reflected by the media, which either stereotypes women over 60 or ignores them altogether. So they decided to do something about it. The result is two new publications: Persimmon Tree, an online literary journal founded by Gefen, which "explores the pain and promise of aging," and Wise Talk, Wild Women, a book authored by Mazer, who celebrates it. "We are not willing to be invisible, and we're no longer willing to be thrown into a single demographic pot,"asserts Mazer, a San Francisco-based professional image consultant who teamed up with award-winning photographer Christine Alicino to profile 21 women "who have created meaningful lives and are making a difference in the world." (see sidebar). Of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and professions, these women include Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Mimi Silbert, Founder of the Delancey Street Foundation; broadcast journalist Belva Davis; and Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers; along with artists, authors, environmentalists, a philosopher, and a sensei master. "All of these women created their lives as they learned to listen to the quiet whisper of their own intuition," says Mazer, "the inner knowing that guides one to a vibrant life. "At 60, I looked at what do I want to leave in this world," she continues, "and I became focused like a laser on the way women are projected in the media. We're bombarded with images saying a sexy woman is 26 years old. There is an unconscious attitude that there is something wrong with aging. And this leads to an unconscious feeling of shame. "My clients have grown into age," continues Mazer whose book idea evolved over 15 years. "We take our image from cultural mirrors. I was getting really angry. If you're bombarded with, 'Oh, you're old,' unless you have your own self-image, you begin to believe that. This book is a different mirror. This book means more to me than the boutiques I've owned and more than being the first African American fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar. All pale in comparison with this book." Like Mazer, Gefen, the editor of Persimmon Tree, sees a lot of newness in being old. "I wanted to catch some of the edgy-ness of that," says Gefen. "This is what's fresh and interesting." But she is also wary, because old is not seen as sexy. "I've spoken with so many women over 60 who are having trouble getting their work published," she says. "One novelist was told: 'The market is not interested in older women.' Why should a line be drawn between young and old when old has all of the excitement, adventure, despair, possibilities, and non-possibilities of youth?" So, Gefen, who is also the founding publisher of Tikkun magazine, created an online literary journal by women over 60, showing the complexity of feeling and thought and life action. "I'd like to see a piece by the woman who begins an affair at 82," she says, noting that talents can ripen at older age. "If someone begins writing in their 60s, during the decades before, they may have been gathering the courage to get it down." | ||
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