New Gransnet Movement – "Old Pride"

Just had a look on Twitter and there is a woman in Ontario who has a Twitter a/c @EmbraceAging. Going to check her out. Maybe we can get her on board too (and on gransnet if she isn't already!)

If it's possible to have a group Twitter account, I think that would be best, notso. It looks as if you've got the go ahead with @embraceage

Re FB, this can have a lot of 'admins'. I'm happy to open it and then add as admins anyone who is keen to submit photos and other stuff. It will have to be a public page of course.

I love butty's comment: "There is beauty in aging naturally and it's something to celebrate." Good profile words? I expect there are more good ones in this thread.

I say 'gopher it', notso

Been thinking a bit more about the Twitter aspect of this........

If there is such a thing, it would be better for it to be a Group Twitter account so that everyone has equal access. It could be very time consuming and unwieldy if requests for Follows etc all have to be fed through one nominal account holder.

What do others think?

"Embrace Age" sounds good to me.

These campaigns can help change things. There is one I have posted on before on GN . This campaigns against the promotion of children's toys as being gender specific. That group is having some success with retailers and manufacturers.

Shall I go ahead and set up a Twitter account under the name of @EmbraceAge then?

Does anyone know whether it needs to be a special 'group' Twitter account, or even if there is such a thing?

If it's just a standard account, everyone would still be able to message it, re-tweet, reply etc etc so it would still be accessible to all. Only the account holder could Follow though. But requests for Follows could be IMed.

It would be good to get it up and running this weekend and which ever option we go for - single or group account - if it doesn't work out how we want it to, we can close the account and start again.

What do people think? Is it time to put a stake in the ground and go for it?

I'm reminded of the thread 'Am I Invisible' that ran on here a while ago, about feeling invisible as one gets older.

'Embrace Age' is a positive view to take to counter-act this creeping idea in society and the media of old age being something at best to ignore and at worst to pity.

I haven't met any GN-ers in person, but feel very fortunate to have engaged with some people with strong and positive views about their lives.

I think there is beauty in aging naturally, and it is something to celebrate.

Are we going with Embrace Age, then?

sel, on a personal level I don't feel discriminated against either (though I might in some situations that I just don't happen to be in). That's not the point. Neither is people wanting to make the most of themselves.

It's more about the continuum of human age being accepted, about youth culture being challenged. You don't have to look far anywhere in the media (including gransnet) to find negative references to the effects of growing older. It's about making more positive comments everywhere about older people – not letting youth culture dominate. It's about showing that old people can be beautiful too, and many are. It's about showing a seventy year old model standing next to a twenty year old and a fifty year old and realising that age is not what determines beauty. There is a special attractiveness about youthful characteristics, but there is special attractiveness in older people too. This is about bringing that to people's attention.

It's about having a positive view of human beings of whatever age.

Which includes not minding wrinkly skin and hair that has lost its melanin (even if one wants to change one's own), but that's only the start.

I like Embrace Age. It has a ring of acceptance and resiliance to it.

Ariadne totally agree with you. I'm not sure what is supposed to be achieved. If you feel pressure from the media to look younger, ignore it. I don't feel discriminated against, I feel very lucky to have lived the life I have in the period I did and look forward, not back. I'm also perfectly happy wearing make up, having my highlights done and pandering to any vanity I have. Always have and hopefully always will. This doesn't mean I want to look 30 years younger or feel thrilled to see another wrinkle. As long as I have my health, I'll continue to dress up, go out and enjoy innocent flirtations.

I wonder when one should start to feel old. Just embrace the life you have and stop worrying about media pressure.

I agree to a point ariadne but think that the media pressure to be perpetually youthful: fashion/cosmetic surgery etc etc needs a challenge.

I am happy in my skin too but get angry at the assumptions that are made about the need to eradicate any sign of the aging process and am up for challenging this!

I have been thinking about this a lot today. I have always been one for standing up for minority groups, and for easing the way for the less fortunate. There are many old people all over the world in dire straights, and if a group were to be formed I would expect it to be proactive in fighting their corner.

But, in all honesty, I don't quite see the point of "Old Pride". I am, mostly, happy to be what I am and where I am, to enjoy the company of my contemporaries as well as of my family, and to let the young have their time, their voice and their opinions. (but being reacy to object!)

This doesn't mean standing down, or taking a back seat, but just, as we do, getting on with it. We are capable of making a fuss when necessary, of lobbying and of campaigning, but as human beings, not as a discrete group.

Youth culture is, as the words suggest, inevitably transient, because the young will become old. As we have.

Any more votes for Embrace Age? Once we've decided on our Name, what then?

Profiles for FB and Twitter, and pics.

No, not reclaim old. That phrase could be useful, but not for banner heading purposes.

Embrace Age is wonderful!

jings, it didn't suggest that to me. That's why I queried your mentioning it. That thought did not occur to me. You should know by now that I don't think the same way as you on a lot of things.

So, no, you can't say I knew it quite well. I didn't.

Reclaim Old!

?

And in Africa the elders of the tribe are senior members, don't have to be of extreme old age.

In Scotland the 'elders' are the sort of board of governors of a church, otherwise know as 'The Kirk Session' and some of them are quite young. Nowadays some of them are even women.

No,no, 'elders' is a euphemism used to describe people of extreme age, especially if they are poor and live in Asia or Africa.

I think nanej had it spot on 'Embrace Age'

That was to Bags of course

Surely a name is supposed to be a clue to identity?!

I think Old Pride suggests a group for elderly gay people Bags. That's what I said and that is what I meant. And you know it quite well.

Don't know why your mind should put any other interpretation on it.

Or a fine wine???

Elders is good too!

nanaej - 'maturing nicely' - sounds like a good cheese. I like to think of us as 'bloody, old and resolute'!

I like Embrace Age.

DH suggested The Elders. He was thinking of village elders.