Paulina Porizkova has been in the public eye as well as in the beauty industry since childhood - no wonder this woman has a strong opinion about such a mystified, often poetized, sometimes vulgarized, and yet not fully understood phenomenon as beauty and its connection to age. As well as many stereotypes surrounding these topics.
However, she does not limit herself to only having an opinion; she actively applies it by daring to act accordingly and 'be visible'.
More info: Instagram
The supermodel gets comments like 'women at 58 Y.O. are "too old" to pose in a bikini' every time she posts a picture of her body
Image credits: paulinaporizkov
The woman shares that ageist shaming sets her teeth on edge, but these people are confusing prettiness with beauty
Image credits: paulinaporizkov
Image credits: paulinaporizkov
Image credits: paulinaporizkov
It must be noted that not only having worked as a model from the age of 15 and signing the highest-paid modeling contract in the world at the height of her modeling career makes this woman eligible to discuss beauty. It is actually all of her life experience and history, from being left behind by her parents at the age of 4 as they were escaping the political situation in her native Czechoslovakia occupied by the Soviets and appearing on the public news for this very reason, to marrying Ric Ocasek, the rock star from the Cars, at the age of 19 and living together for 30 years just to be left out of his will after his sudden death and being accused of abandoning him. Just to mention a few challenges this woman went through. However, recently, Paulina Porizkova came out with a slightly different scope, posting her crying video as she grieved for her husband as well as emotional betrayal online and revealing her vulnerable side, as well as starting her new career step as a writer.
Image credits: paulinaporizkov
Image credits: paulinaporizkov
Image credits: paulinaporizkov
The woman’s post answering the critics of her pictures received 100k likes on Instagram. Even though her photos, which reveal the beauty and complexity of a mature woman’s body, are highly supported and feedback is mostly positive, she notes that she gets negative comments every time she posts a picture of her body online. The supermodel opens up that ageist comments “set her teeth on edge”. These usually include claims that posting pictures of her body at the age of 58 is necessarily being desperate. Or saying women over 58 are “too old” to pose in a bikini.
However, despite the natural disappointment with such out-of-place comments, the woman emphasizes the importance of taking action - by starting a conversation as well as letting mature people and our natural aging process be seen instead of asking them ‘to be invisible.’ Following her own advice, the woman is not afraid of showing her body, primarily because she finds it beautiful, despite the unhealthy stigma that surrounds exposing the bodies of mature people to the camera's eye.
In her post, Paulina Porizkova addresses a common misconception that most of her critics share. According to her, most of those ‘naysayers’ do not understand beauty, as they confuse it with prettiness. She explains that while prettiness is easy on the eyes, as it is easy to take in and easy to forget, this is at least partly because it’s a little bland and inoffensive. Beauty is something else. As she puts it: “Beauty can be sharp. It can wound you and leave a scar.”
Image credits: paulinaporizkov
"Pretty is easy on the eyes, partly because it's a little bland, inoffensive. It's easy to take in and easy to forget"
Image credits: paulinaporizkov
"Beauty can be sharp. It can wound you and leave a scar"
She emphasizes that compared to prettiness, beauty might require more effort from a beholder. As she says: “To perceive beauty you have to be able to ‘see’.” Which in this context might refer to actually focusing one’s attention to see through the stereotypes and default settings of one’s mind. This aligns nicely with her last note saying: “There is no such thing as ugly and old, only shortsighted and ignorant.”
The woman adds she believes people get more beautiful with age, as they have earned it and are able to really understand it. This has to do with a person possibly developing and exercising certain powers of their own as well as simply leading their life and creating their own history, in such a way indulging their uniqueness, which might just turn out to be a crucial ingredient to being perceived as beautiful.
People commented that this woman's attitude as well as her pictures are inspiring:
