Ageing with attitude: ‘Old bags’ stand up for right to live a full life

Margaret Jennings discovers a novel project which challenges our preconceived ideas about older women, who often struggle with ageist labels.

GETTING middleaged women to stand in their underwear with a bag over their heads isn’t an everyday occurrence and that is why we tend to sit up straight and take a second look. The images draw us in and defy — even for a few moments — the populist belief that post menopausal women become invisible.

However, so far 60 women — aged 45 to 70 — have posed this way as part of a project called Old Bags Taking A Stand, which is thumbing its nose irreverently at consumerism and the stereotypes of female ageing.