All too often, remaining a publicly viable woman in the second half of life means — paradoxically — doing one’s utmost to look like one is still in the first half of life. Being visible as a woman, that is, requires making one’s age invisible. It’s a conflictual, not to say crazy-making diktat, to follow.
With her smooth skin, flowing auburn hair and gleaming smile, Ms. Smith (Mr. Murdoch’s fiancée) looks considerably younger than her years. Recent photos show her tan and fit in a yellow bikini while relaxing on a beach and frolicking in the surf with a swimsuit-clad Mr. Murdoch.
Physical signs of aging, even of extreme age, do not carry much stigma for men. Instead, men like Mr. Murdoch resist old age — and permit themselves (even if jokingly) to speak of entering, at 92, the “second half” of their lives — by focusing outward, through the agency of other people, acquiring younger (and “anti-aged”) companions to inspire or energize them.
This week, just as those photos of Mr. Murdoch and Ms. Smith appeared, a former Fox employee filed a lawsuit against the company in New York’s Southern District. In her suit, Abby Grossberg, a booker for “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” alleges that she was “subjected to vile sexist stereotypes,” and “overworked, undervalued” and “denied opportunities for promotion” because she was a woman.
According to Ms. Grossberg, considerable ageism accompanied the sexism she encountered. She claims, for example, that a senior male colleague referred to the Fox anchor Maria Bartiromo, 55, as “menopausal” and “hysterical.” Ms. Grossberg also described the walls of Tucker Carlson’s office as plastered with “large images of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a plunging bathing suit revealing her cleavage.”
Displaying those photos of Ms. Pelosi, who is over 80, was meant to strip her of her power, to demean and belittle one of the most powerful women in the world. On the other hand, press photos of the (far older) Mr. Murdoch in a swimsuit, girlfriend by his side, are presumed to accomplish the opposite, drawing attention to his power and virility, his ability to attract yet another much-younger spouse.
