Brenda Brissette Mata
The Flint Journal
April 20, 2009
Sexy at 60 isn’t unusual anymore
Quick, what does 60 look like? Gray? Wrinkly? Badly knitted afghans spread across creaking knees?
Maybe 30 years ago that was someone’s idea of 60, but these days 60 is the new 40. Which makes 40 the new 20, and if you continue to follow that line of thinking makes a 20-something an infant.
Maybe you have to be 40 to appreciate the way our view of age has changed, but even 20-somethings agree that 60 doesn’t mean gray hair and wrinkles.
Sixty can be downright sexy, at least if you can believe the results of a recent survey by Web sites Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com.
The survey was conducted among single men and women from age 18 to 55. They were asked to vote for the male or female celebrity (age 60 or older) that they would most want to date.
Men have always been able to hold onto sex appeal for a longer period of time than women, so it’s not hard to imagine women coming up with a list of men without too much trouble.
But apparently men didn’t have too much trouble picking plenty of vital, sexy women for their top 10 list.
In reverse order (ending with the sexiest 60-something selected) men chose: Barbra Streisand (66), Stevie Nicks (60), Bette Midler (63), Meryl Streep (she turns 60 on June 22), Goldie Hawn (63), Farrah Fawcett (62), Raquel Welch (68), Cher (62) — and number one 60-something Susan Sarandon (62).
Sarandon received more than 22 percent of the survey votes to get that cherished spot.
There was a time when people used to say a middle-aged woman walking into a room might as well be invisible.
Well, unless we start living to be 120, these 60-something women are long past middle-aged and even without celebrity, likely to turn heads when walking through a room.
These women deserve kudos for not giving in to age. Fighting to remain visible.
In 2004, Time magazine had a story about baby boomers entering their 60s and how it has impacted the view society has of aging women and Sophia Loren made headlines in 2006 when, at age 71, she posed for an Italian calendar known for provocative photos.
Mick Jagger at age 20 couldn’t imagine still singing ‘Satisfaction’ at age 40. At 65 he’s still singing and sexy.
It may not be the political glass ceiling that’s breaking, but certainly the societal view of older women is not what it was 40 years ago.
And for men, too. About 40 years ago, when he was still a young man, Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger said: “If I’m singing ‘Satisfaction’ when I’m 40, I’m going to kill myself.”
Jagger said that when he was 20, he couldn’t imagine being 40. And today, at 65 he’s still singing and plenty sexy, and I’m not sure but it looks like he’s wearing the same pants he wore 40 years ago.
Jagger is No. 5 on the list of 60-something men that women chose as still sexy at 60, tied with Robert DeNiro.
The men on the bottom half of the top 10 list are: Sylvester Stallone (62), Michael Douglas (64) and Harrison Ford (66).
Above DeNiro and Jagger are: Samuel L. Jackson (60), Al Pacino (68) and tied at first — Richard Gere (60 on Aug. 31) and Paul McCartney.
