There is an age from which, we have been told, women stop being relevant. We disappear, we become invisible just because we have stopped being fertile. Reproduction or death, tied to the imposition of the duty to be pleasing to the eyes of men. We don't feel that way, of course, it's how they continue to represent us in high-impact media: series, films, advertising. The idealization of youth (to which many of us wouldn't return even if crazy), the creation of needs derived from the desire to preserve it at all costs, and the lack of women's voices telling us the real and honest experience of what it means to grow old create a terribly cruel imaginary for those of us who are still alive past forty, fifty, sixty. Smear yourself with creams, exercise, starve, mutilate yourself.

I was running on the treadmill at the gym trying not to think about anything, but the scene prevented me: to the right, a man was struggling to walk uphill while a TikTok one after another, and laughed heartily; to the left, a retired woman smiled dreamily at the screen of the treadmill, on which Santi Millán was presenting Factor XIn both our eyes, it was a kind of hypnosis. I remembered then the last lunch I'd shared with people, and how it was the older folks who checked their phones when notifications popped up or answered calls by getting up from the table, as if nothing were amiss. I remembered the last few trips on the subway, on the blue line that takes me home, and that army of tired people, all adults, going home like me, amazed by the most vulgar videos created by artificial intelligence or getting their news from fake news websites. Who would have thought it, right? We'd like them all to be ill-mannered youngsters, bewildered and rude teenagers, uncivilized youths, but it turns out they were older people, some with gray hair, people who looked serious and respectable. Who would have thought it, really.

Welcome to another year in our lives, a fitting time to remember that if there's one thing that's truly personal, it's age. Everyone carries it as they wish or as they can. But it seems that's not the case. According to the unappealable verdict of the majority, life gets interesting when we're still too young to do certain things, and its social decline begins when we're no longer old enough to do those same things.

It's not that they don't address her formally; it's that they treat her like an idiot. Or worse, like a little girl. She, who has lost count of the decades she's spent working, striving, constantly adapting to a changing reality, has to put up with this pair of idiots who show her cowardly contempt. Yes, cowardly, because they certainly wouldn't confront someone with their same vitality, or even a man, no matter how big or tall. It's ageism, but also sexism, forming a repugnant mixture that falls like sticky tar on the women who suffer it. Imagine being sixty, seventy, eighty years old and having these young guys come along and lecture you. Or worse: telling you things as if you didn't understand, or as if you didn't touch, or as if you had no idea how the world works. Back then, you did enough educating the men around you, patiently and pedagogically showing them how they should treat you and other women. Putting them in their place, dodging them, and avoiding them when you sensed they were dangerous was something, but now, now that it's been so long since you took to the streets to protest the criminalization of adultery, now that you've stood up and, along with so many other women, entered offices, political parties, universities, government offices, and other institutions to win your own independence, now that it's been so long since you won the right to be a person, these pathetic fools come along and treat you with such contempt. Don't they have mothers? Don't they have grandmothers? Has no one ever taught them how to behave in society? It's not that you've become invisible, as they say happens when you get older. I wish they wouldn't even see you and would just leave you alone, but it's even worse. You bother them. You can tell by the way they look at you, the way they wrinkle their noses. It's not so different from what used to happen, when the burdensome nature of this non-reproductive stage turned you into a useless old thing worthy of being relegated to a corner. They laugh, like skunks, if you mispronounce a word when they serve you in any establishment; they speak to you slowly and shouting as if all old women were deaf and slow-witted, they tell you grandmother Without being able to answer "Grandma Auntie" because they'll still think you're crazy. If they have to come fix an appliance at your house, prepare yourself for a lot of explanations full of technical jargon, all to pave the way for the exorbitant price they're going to charge you. The last idiot who came addressed you in diminutives: "See that little snail, Grandma?" What should you do? Bite your lip and walk away, or you'll spend the whole day arguing and getting indignant. "What a disappointment," another one writes when you demand that he fulfill his obligations. Ageist and sexist emotional blackmail is what these kids often practice on you, because they think they have the right to take advantage of older women like you. Even more so if they find you alone.

The Catalan Ombudsman has taken into consideration the complaint of a 72-year-old man regarding the age limit for colon cancer screening programs and is asking the Catalan Health Department, on which the complaint is based, to stop performing diagnostic tests after the age of 69, precisely the age at which these types of tumors are most common. This case of ageism, or age discrimination, was reported by... Joaquim Vilargunter from Barcelona in the pages of ARA After the regional health department headed by Olga Pané and a court denied him entry into the public prevention program, the director of social rights for the Ombudsman, Jordi Sánchez Pinyol, has opened an investigation following the news published on November 17th to determine if the Health Department has scientific reports to justify the age restriction to 69, and also inquires whether any such reports exist within that age range. In his complaint, Joaquim Vilargunter provided reports from other health services, such as those in the Basque Country and others in the European Union, which have decided to extend the screening age range to 74, taking into account the high incidence of cancer and the fact that stool analysis is cheaper than medical treatment. In the letter that Sánchez Pinyol has sent to the Catalan Health Department (Salut), he also asks about the exact cost of each test and "the impact that extending the age range to 74 would have on the healthcare budget," as well as what information is available on the incidence of this type of cancer in people over 69. The Ombudsman explains that he has opted to act ex officio without mentioning Vilargunter's personal case, knowing that he is unlikely to receive a positive response before turning 74 (he is two years away), while it could be a solution for other people who are about to reach the maximum age for the prevention program. According to Sánchez Pinyol, colorectal cancer screenings have many parallels with breast cancer, which also has an age limit and leaves women without universal and free periodic screening.

Those who criticize marrying young as a mistake because it involves choosing a life partner before truly knowing yourself will surely be delighted that Cher has found her soulmate on the cusp of 80. With years of experience gained from self-discovery and having become so certain of who she is that she has dared to defy every possible social taboo, the most primal of all living pop divas seems to have found someone with whom to swear eternal love, however long eternity may last for her. After two failed marriages and 50 years of abstinence—marital, not romantic—we understand that she knew exactly what she was looking for in a man. That's why it's so joyful that she has found him—which doesn't always happen—and is determined to give it a luxurious touch through marriage. Especially since this decision will greatly upset that insufferable ageist and sexist social class that always tries to oppress anyone who attempts to live their life freely. This is a guarantee that Cher's upcoming wedding is very good news.

I can't get it out of my head an interview in this same newspaper I spoke with an expert on ageism, and she explained that she hides her birthdate because it harms her. She knows what she's talking about. Ageism, especially against women, discriminates against us in every area. But I'm shocked by the act of hiding one's age. I've spent the last few years championing maturity, and it pisses me off to see age become another kind of closet. I'm convinced that being 56 is a blessing—the experience, the maturity, the freedom—and I'm very happy about it. But I'm no one to judge another woman who hides her age because discrimination exists. If I were an actress, for example, I wouldn't talk about my age so casually.

A physician and anthropologist, Dr. Vânia de la Fuente-Núñez led the WHO's campaign against ageism and in 2021 was one of the authors of the UN's first state of the art report. She has written The age trap (Ediciones B) and runs a consultancy to advise governments and entities in the fight against age stereotypes and encourage them to promote policies to healthy aging.

It's the final dress fitting, and Maria Àngels Gómez emerges from the fitting room with a look of satisfaction on her face, of being able to wear the style she likes and no other. The dress is long, lilac, and has a pointed bodice that ends in a low neckline. "You look very pretty, elegant," one of the salespeople tells her as she looks at herself again and again in the mirror with a smile on her face. It's precisely the idea she had for her 50th wedding anniversary celebration, "something cheerful and elegant," she describes. Finding this dress has cost her a "big upset" and is yet another example of the ageist prejudices embedded in society.

It was not until November 2023 that the Dictionary of the Catalan Language of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans admitted the concept of ageism as discrimination based on age. Despite the youth of this term, the formulas and fashions with which it is applied pass from generation to generation and become especially severe with age. psychogerontologist Montse Celdrán has collected fifty of these expressions in the Glossary on ageism that the La Caixa Foundation published two years ago. The booklet is the result of prior work among users of the entity's clubs on the stereotypes surrounding old age, the comments that make them feel bad, and their self-perception. "Language is not innocuous," says Celdrán, who is part of the Gerontology Research Group at the University of Barcelona. The expert also points to the desire to raise awareness and change these discriminatory expressions.

We all aspire to live many years of health and fulfillment. In fact, more and more people are reaching advanced age. The global population over 65 will grow rapidly over the next decade: from 1.565 billion individuals in 2024 (19.5% of the population) to 1.948 billion in 2034 (22.8%). And the number of those over 80 will increase by 29.3%. Demographic change is also accompanied by people enjoying better living conditions, more education, and fewer children. And yet, too often we continue to treat older people as if they cannot make their own decisions, as if they were minors. This is called ageism—there is also ageism for minors, but the most common is that of the elderly. And it is an increasingly evident social problem.

Ageism, the discrimination against someone simply because they are older or younger, is a real problem. That's why we're dedicating this weekend's dossier to it. We explain what it is and how it affects us, with witnesses who have experienced or continue to experience this discrimination and experts who analyze it. We also offer a glossary of terms specific to this phenomenon and testimony from a surprising case that ended up in court.

In two court rulings, Joaquim Vilargunter obtained a response to the ageism complaint he had filed against the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut). This Barcelona lawyer took the colon cancer screening program to court because it excludes people over 69 years of age. He felt discriminated against because of his age and requested that the public health system extend the early detection test for the tumor, which has a higher incidence in men and women, to age 74, according to statistics from the Department of Health. "I have the right, and I justified it by providing European health guidelines that recommend expanding the target age group," he explained in a conversation at his home. Indeed, in the Basque Country, the target population for hescreening is between 50 and 74 years old, the same age range as in other European Union countries. "I do it because after 69, illnesses and the likelihood of suffering from cancer don't disappear; on the contrary," she argues.

"Which actresses over 60 do you have in mind?" The question is asked. Vicenta Ndongo, actress still in her fifties, who had previously said how she was amazed at the lack of knowledge that exists among the talent pool of actors who fill television and platform series with names like Maribel Verdú, who has dedicated her entire life to the sector. "You get older and you disappear," she proclaims, not without pointing out that in her case, as a racialized woman, she also does not fit the "stereotypical mother." For the moment, she has not played a grandmother yet, she clarifies.