I’m (Not) Just a Queenage Dirtbag, Baby

Here’s a word I learnt this year: Queenager. A quick search on the Cambridge Dictionary reveals the noun as: a woman of middle age or older who leads a busy life, dresses stylishly and enjoys having fun. The description made me smile and feel better about myself (better than mutton dressed as lamb at any rate). But it also got me thinking. Being ‘labelled’ is something many of us actively avoid. But can it sometimes... dare I say it... make us feel good? Do we all possess an innate desire to belong, a hole to call our own beside like minded pigeons?

In The New Yorker in 2011, Tina Fey famously defined ‘crazy’ in Hollywood as ‘a woman who keeps talking even after no one wants to f**k her anymore’. It was a notion met with empathetic cheers from women across the globe. Whilst most of us aren’t famous film producers, writers or actors – I'd be lying if I said I hadn’t questioned how women over 50 are characterised in the workplace – or even in society, for that matter. We are not 'past it’ or ‘on shelf’, we have relevance, experience and a whole lot of joy in life.

Adland holds an abundance of power when it comes to deciphering stereotypical niches. And if we can use celebrities of a certain demographic to raise awareness of important issues, then great. Olivia Coleman (or should that be Oblivia Coal-Mine) stars in a dark comedic film for Make Money Matter, surprising us all with the amount of money from our pensions which is invested into fossil fuels. It catches our attention – not least because of her fame and performance, but also because of the shocking admission of the script. It has an effect which someone without her respected status simply couldn’t achieve.

British Airways’ recent campaign is another interesting piece. A stylish woman of a certain age (see queenager: noun) reminds us that we’ll ‘stay much less dead for much less longer’ if only we took our holidays as seriously as British Airways do. She’s impeccably cast and delivers a flawless performance. We feel that she’s independent, elegant and interesting. A stereotypical sum of all her components. It’s a label but it doesn’t feel heavy, it feels light. And this is, I suppose what I’m getting at:

There is a place for labels which celebrate people, rather than ring fencing them with negative old-fashioned ideas. 

I’m happy to be the mature poster child representing women of a certain age, as long as it’s my experience and my achievements that are celebrated. There are communities like Women In Film who constantly champion female talent and all-female juries for award shows like the Gerety awards. There are also ground-breaking campaigns for Libresse including ‘Viva La Vulva’ and ‘Periodsomnia’, conceived by mixed gender creative crews. And that’s brilliant – the more we can work together, congratulate and educate each other on the nuances of our own stereotypes, the easier it is to celebrate them.

So, here’s to celebrating you, in all your labelled glory. I could go on all day, but I’m far too busy being stylish and having fun.