‘Forget about your face… Get at the fear that is making you think that the fact that your face is wrinkled is going to ex out a bunch of opportunities for you.’
Interviewer: ‘Do you think there is beauty in ageing?’
‘Well, when you say [that], aren’t you really saying, “Do you think it’s possible for other people to find ageing beautiful?” And, like, I just don’t give a shit.’
This is actress and film director Justine Bateman (58) responding to an interviewer on the current affairs show 60 Minutes Australia, talking about her new book Face, which is based on the radical notion that there is nothing wrong with her face, or yours, or anyone else’s. (Her website is literally called theres nothingwrongwithyourface.com) Not the wrinkles. Not the sunspots. Not the crow’s feet. Not the hooded lids. Not the jowls. Not the laugh or frown lines.
I stumbled across the clip at random and it lodged in my mind, a questionradical – and like such obvious common sense? Surely this wasn’t a new idea, and yet I feel like I’d never heard it articulated before. Hasn’t feminism dealt with this already?
