If you search ‘ageing’ on google it’s easy to believe that anti-ageing and anti-ageism are the same thing. 

One group wants you to believe that slathering collagen-infused snail mucus onto your face is an act of defiance against the tyranny of age discrimination. That looking forty at fifty is some kind of moral crusade.

It’s not.

Anti-ageism, however,  is a social movement trying to convince the world that, actually, old people are still useful. That having wrinkles doesn’t mean you should be quietly escorted out of your job, or ignored in a shop, or referred to exclusively in tones of hushed, reverent pity.

The two concepts are completely at odds with one another, but they are being marketed as if they go hand in hand. You have celebrities with faces pulled tighter than a budget airline’s baggage policy telling us to “embrace the beauty of ageing.” 

You have influencers promoting “pro-aging” skincare routines, which is like launching a “pro-gravity” parachute—utterly, maddeningly redundant. 

And then you have the people who are fighting to make life better for older adults—the people writing think pieces about age bias in the workplace, the people protesting pension cuts, the people campaigning for better elderly care…

… but these people are not the ones getting invited onto morning television.