The Politics of Elder Blogging

Susan Swartz is a retirement-resistant journalist friend who has written a book and now writes a delightful blog, both called “Juicy Tomatoes.” They extol the virtues and occasionally give a nod to the vices of the second half-century of life.

I ran into Susan at the Blogher conference her in New York earlier this month, when she ran up to me after I appeared on the closing keynote and asked me if I’d ever heard the term “elder blogger.” I had not, though admittedly blogging in general has the air of youth about it.

In this post Susan subsequently wrote, she obviously continued to fret about being so labeled:

But elder blogger really pushed my buttons. Is Maya Angelou an elder poet? Is Annie Leibovitz an elder photographer. Is Madonna an elder rock star?

I couldn’t resist leaving the following comment in response:

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Susan, “Elder blogger” makes me laugh. Actually it makes me laugh when I think of Boomers being “elder” because I am too old by four years to be a Boomer and I’ve always thought of you guys as the kids. The description doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the reality.

However, this morning in an e-mail, I did lovingly call 30-year-old author (and my great friend with whom I often do WomenGirlsLadies intergenerational feminist panels) Courtney Martin an “entitled little snot” after she implied in her column that her generation is strategic about picking their political battles. The implication of course is that ours was not. That kind of language bothers me much more than being called an elder anything.

As Susan observed in her post:

In some cultures “elder” is a sign of respect, as it was once in our own and might some day be again. But in our mainstream youth-happy world it creaks.

It does seem that labeling anything older, elder, or “a generational thing” (eye roll) in American culture today is intended to dismiss it as irrelevant.

But to the 20- and 30- somethings who lob aspersions on those of a certain age, we ripe tomatoes can attest that soon enough you’ll either be humbled or emboldened by the growing number of candles on your cake.

I recall being so amused when, during my youthful forties, I found the perfect t-shirt for a friend celebrating his 60th birthday. It read: “Age and treachery overcome youth and skill.”

For me, blogging is a liberating way to be able to speak my piece unfettered by worries or constrictions that  I had in the past, whether from the insecurities of youth or the bounds of representing an organizational brand rather than my own.

Let’s hope our less experienced sisters and brothers have a chance to learn as many new technologies as we elders have. It keeps you young.

Gloria Feldt

GLORIA FELDT is the New York Times bestselling author of several books including No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power, a sought-after speaker and frequent contributor to major news outlets, and the Co-Founder and President of Take The Lead. People has called her “the voice of experience,” and among the many honors she has been given, Vanity Fair called her one of America’s “Top 200 Women Legends, Leaders, and Trailblazers,” and Glamour chose her as a “Woman of the Year.”

As co-founder and president of Take The Lead, a leading women’s leadership nonprofit, her mission is to achieve gender parity by 2025 through innovative training programs, workshops, a groundbreaking 50 Women Can Change The World immersive, online courses, a free weekly newsletter, and events including a monthly Virtual Happy Hour program and a Take The Lead Day symposium that reached over 400,000 women globally in 2017.