Suzanne Somers was naked today…

…and a whole bunch of people lost their shit.

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A post shared by Suzanne Somers (@suzannesomers)

And even the people who didn’t lose their shit, the people who talked about how great she still looks, intending to be supportive, even those people completely missed the point.

The point is not that it’s okay for a 73-year-old sex symbol to post a nude photo of herself because she still looks good.

The point is twofold.

The first point is, it doesn’t matter how she looks. And for people to be “supportive” by telling her how good she looks is symptomatic of just how deep and insidiously ageism runs. Because most of those people aren’t telling her she looks good so much as they’re telling her she looks younger than she is, and is therefore allowed to be publicly proud of her body. And that is ageist bullshit.

The other point is, not all nudity is sexual. This nudity was not intended to be sexual. It was a happy woman celebrating the anniversary of her birth in the same state she came into the world.

So to the people who meant to be supportive, your good intentions are appreciated, but please look more closely at what you’re actually saying when you tell a woman she “still looks good enough” to post a nude photo.

And to the people who asked “why?” and said she should “show some class” and all the rest of it?

It sucks that the world has spent years convincing you that your body isn’t good enough, and even when it is good enough, it’s only good for one thing, and even then only for a short time.

It sucks that the world has taught you that. It sucks that the world did such a good job teaching you that, that your first instinct will be to disregard everything I’ve said here. It sucks that because of all the bullshit the world has taught you, you can’t see the beauty in a naked 73-year-old woman just being happy with herself.
 
 
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