Retiree stereotypes – It seems we’re feeble, forgetful, stubborn, and helpless 5

Retirement Stats, Studies, and Stuff

By Mariella Vigneux, MBA, ACC
Certified Professional Coach

I need to rant a bit.  It’s about the portrayals of retirees that I see – in ads, on products, on television, in magazines, and on store billboards.  They drive me crazy.  It seems that once you retire you become a stereotype.  You will be seen as happy and bland, or feeble and lacking.  You might be seen as wise and loving, or cranky and fixed in your ways.  Do you notice these stereotypes and their blatant ageism?

We’ve become cardboard cut-out characters

The happy, bland retirees always wear white- and oatmeal-coloured clothing.  They have brilliant, perfect smiles and full heads of beautiful, slightly windblown hair.  They are gently participating in wholesome activities that don’t particularly seem to engage them, certainly not with passion or purpose.  Usually they are on a tandem bicycle on an ocean boardwalk or daintily hiking through a field of oats (which just happens to match their outfits).

Another stereotype is those that are feeble or lacking.  These people are made to appear guileless and sweet as they wait to be helped. These people have guileless expressions on their sweet faces as they wait to be helped.  They are helped to purchase a home in a retirement villa, where everything will be done for them.  They are helped to choose the right medication, because medication is all they think about.  They are helped out of scams that prey on the hapless, half-witted senior.  They are helped to modify their houses to prevent falls as they age and deteriorate.

The older retiree might be seen as wise and loving, ensconced in a rocking chair with a gaggle of grandchildren about her feet as she peels apples for the pie crust waiting on the table beside her.  Grandpa can be seen mentoring a boy in the craft of model airplane building, a shaft of sunlight cutting through the workshop to light up their smiling faces.  No impatience, resignation, or swear words allowed in these scenes.

The cranky older person, an updated Archie Bunker, is a crotchety and abusive character, who is tolerated with amusement or dismissed out of hand by the younger, more astute individuals.

How did we get to be so wholesome?  So helpless?  So loving or so cranky?  How is it that we have suddenly and unequivocally become cardboard cut-out characters?   According to the Encyclopedia of Aging, television advertising “repeatedly conveys negative stereotypes by representing older persons as feeble, forgetful, stubborn, and helpless.”

What I’ve seen

In my own life, I’ve seen the effects of this way of thinking about older people.  It has shown up in a few ways:

• I’ve witnessed the debate about whether it is better to dye your hair and remain vibrant and young-looking or to let it grow grey naturally.
• I’ve talked to many people, around the mid-50 age, who were let go from their jobs, even though they had glowing performance appraisals and were at the height of their productivity. Then when they went to job interviews they were told they were overqualified, rather than the truth – that they were considered to be too old.
• I’ve noticed that, if companies think you’re going to cost more, your rates go up (e.g., health insurance); if you’re going to pay more, you are given small discounts (travel, investments, restaurants).
• I’ve found that we treat our health concerns differently. I’ve viewed my knee injury as a factor of natural aging, instead of seriously seeking further medical exploration, as I would have when I was younger.
• I’ve noticed fewer roles for older people in television, film and on stage – especially for women.
• It’s hard to find a birthday card that doesn’t focus on getting old, becoming decrepit, memory loss or a poor sex life.
• I saw arbitrariness about aging when my husband received a notice, shortly after his sixtieth birthday, saying his stem cells were no longer wanted. One week his stem cells were terrific, the next week they were not worthy.
• I’ve read that some children think aging means being sick, unhappy, unfulfilled, or dying.

The list could be longer, but I’ll stop there.

Misconceptions even before retirement

It has been popular lately to list the characteristics of each generation, to see how workplace interactions and productivity might be improved.  Apparently, many of the characteristics listed are highly questionable.

In the research report Age-Based Stereotypes:  Silent Killer of Collaboration and Productivity, the authors listed the following stereotypes, both positive and negative, ascribed to the Baby Boom generation (1946–1964):

The Boom-Generation:

• Remains loyal to an organization (Hart, 2006)
• Is idealistic, optimistic, and driven (Loomis, 2000)
• Consists of diligent workers (Yu and Miller, 2003)
• Values organizational power (McCrindle and Hooper, 2006).
• Focuses on consensus-building (Hart, 2006)
• Is filled with excellent mentors (Kupperschmidt, 2000)
• Is a competitive group and advocates change and expansion (Eisner, 2005)
• Is ruthless in pursuit of material success (Eisner, 2005)
• Tends to micro-manage others (Eisner, 2005)
• Places work at the center of its members’ lives (Eisner, 2005)

The report pointed out that only four findings of generational differences have actually been scientifically validated in the literature to date.  They are as follows:

1. Work is less central for younger compared to older employees.
2. Older employees have a stronger work ethic compared to younger employees.
3. Younger employees more highly value leisure compared to older employees.
4. Younger employees self-report more workplace individuality compared to older employees.

The authors of the report dismissed all other assertions by the pop theorists.

The impact of stereotypes and ageism

I understand stereotypes to be false beliefs about others and ageism to be a strong prejudice against the elderly.  What is the impact of such thinking – in others, but also in ourselves?  What are the dangers of associating certain characteristics (good or bad) with a group of people?  Does it really matter?

I think it does matter.  At best, stereotyping and ageism are counterproductive.  The oversimplification of older people allows a whole group of complex individuals to be undeservedly dismissed, ridiculed, or undeservedly adored.  At worst, once a group has been stereotyped, it can be discriminated against, manipulated for gain, or, in extreme cases, made into targets for emotional and physical violence.

This simplification of the complex means we don’t encourage and benefit from the wildly rich potential within each of us.  If we gradually accept the stereotypical images of retirement, we might limit our own imaginations about what we can do and who we can become.  We might let the economic and political forces in our world shape our possibilities.  We might allow those who stand to gain, drive us to become anxious about our money, health, sex lives, appearances, work possibilities or just about any aspect of our lives from which they can benefit.

Dye your hair purple

Let’s not allow this simplification.  If you want purple hair, dye your hair purple.  If you like grey hair, let it grow in grey.  Be cranky on Fridays and loving and wise on Tuesdays.  If you want to work until you’re 90, do so.  Golf and volunteer only if that’s what turns your crank; likewise with knitting and baking apple pies.  Vote for people and parties that support the choices you cherish.  Buy from companies and donate to organizations that are inclusive and nurturing.

Let’s call into question the stereotypes.  Let’s challenge ageism when we see it around us.  Let’s keep exploring our potential and the crazy possibilities out there that will electrify us.  And let’s expect respect, show competence, remain connected, and exercise autonomy.

Let’s be ourselves, as we always have been. End of rant.