Wild, wild times.

I’m a Gen X woman.

Believe what you like about us Gen X types but I think the most honest thing that can be said about us is: we are both unbothered and bothered, we give no f*cks and we give all the f*cks.

We are the generation of latchkey kids, disappearing to play outside with no phones and no life360, we fell off bikes, jumped off garage roofs and, shock horror, paddled around bodies of water that they made infomercials about in the 1980’s (the less said about those the better).

So, it’s no real shock that there’s a whole generation of women hitting their 50’s suddenly thinking ‘What the absolute f*ck’ is going on here? Why aren’t we sexy any more, why does no one listen to us any more, why do we no longer hold value?

Our mum’s and grandma's rarely spoke about the subtle (but not) changes in their bodies and mental health and that’s precisely why Gen X women are shouting it from the rooftops, we weren’t expecting it, we weren’t given any LadyBird books about ‘Jane’s first perimenopausal hot flash’ (iykyk).

It doesn’t help that social media (and yes, looking at you glossy magazines/newspapers/websites) are all crowing about some A-list celebrity with her ‘toned’ or ‘beach ready’ arms/washboard stomach, making us normies all feel like utter bin fodder.

Get. In. The. Bin.

The mid life changes us Gen X women are going through, the weird fat belly that is seemingly driven by our now overly sensitive to cortisol systems, our insomnia, our hair loss, crows feet and jowls (to name a few of the darling physical changes) are all glorious things that are ‘wrong’ with us now. Things that’ll drive our partners into the beds of younger women (apparently) - they’re all things that need fixing (or should I say ‘fixing’).

Open any social media app or website bestowed with ads and you will be served adverts for collagen or some other supplement to ‘fix’ these changes (often in only 8 weeks).

Problem is, there’s so little evidence for these and they’re expensive. Sure, in today’s financial climate let’s blow £45 on a tub of foul tasting powder because it might reduce the appearance of my laughter lines (it won’t), let’s blow another £40 on some fancy-shmancy leg cream with nutriceuticals mined from darkest Peru that’ll help us sleep… sure, we don’t need food or new knickers anyway.

People have been, or maybe it’s more accurate to think that it’s women who have been, at the shitty end of this stick for decades. Men get salt and pepper hair, they become beloved news anchors who wield gravitas and hefty salaries on prime time shows like they’ve earned their status. Women ‘age’. We look old and when we do, we’re accused of letting ourselves go, we’re relegated to mid afternoon, low viewing figure tv slots. After all, isn’t it a much beloved pastime to comment on how ‘tired’ women look? (Yes it hurts, no I won’t stop complaining about that phrase).

Everything about this is wrong and I’m looking to my glorious cohort of fellow Gen X women to set new standards, we can pluck our chin hairs AND read the news at 6pm. We might not have any eggs left but we sure as shit have standards, opinions and a whole lot of untapped potential.

It’s not the end, it’s a glorious beginning, for we ARE still sexy, we SHOULD be heard and we are damn valuable.

WOW, what a ramble. No, wait, it’s passion and opinion and gloriously unedited 😂