Q: We’re undergoing a huge economic shift currently in which Western hegemony is under assault. Do you think the economic downturn could re-establish the whole idea of thinness and class?
A: That’s an interesting question. I think the problem is that thin and class have achieved a sort of super-class so it’s as though you can surmount everything by having this body. But that may very well be challenged because capitalism as the success model has been shown to be highly problematic. There’s an opportunity to rethink issues rather than putting the broken pieces back together with the same old rotten glue.
Q: Yet we’re also seeing cosmetic surgery packaged as offering a competitive edge for an aging population in the job market.
A: It’s scurrilous, because you could see the ideology could be framed in terms of, “We’ve got all these skills we don’t want to lose from people who are really highly skilled, but let’s find a way to encourage them to work.” Right? There are many different ways that this could be marketed, but the fact is that it’s marketed for another industry that needs more and more bodies to go through it.
Q: Your book delivers the message that the body should be the place to live, rather than a constant reno project. But you also tell the story about going to a psychotherapists’ conference in Brazil where you were the only one who hasn’t had work done. Do you feel pressure?
A: I’m not a babe; I’m an older woman. I try to be curious about the fact that I, like everybody else, think the latest mascara might make a difference, or wouldn’t it be nice if this didn’t hang this way. But the next stage is to say: “Why not be amused by it; that even with your awareness you are like everybody else and are pulled to think that there is some solution.” Then I go back to ask myself: “What is the problem that requires this solution?” And the problem is something that I would not want to conceptualize as a problem, which is that I’m a woman of 62. And that isn’t a problem; that is just what happens. And yes, I am aging, and my life is pretty damn interesting. I don’t yet think I’m illegal as a person because I’m over a certain age.
Q: You sound like a lousy candidate for cosmetic surgery.
A: [Laughs] I do, don’t I?
Q: Yes. It’s supposed to be the answer.
A: Yes. They really don’t want me in their ads!
