Social Experiment

For this assignment I chose to target one of my aunt's. No particular reason, but she just happened to be visiting for the weekend and I didn't want to try this type of thing at work. I like to listen to a variety of music, and my family likes to joke around that I listen to a lot of "white" music i.e. emo, some country, and techno. I like what I like though. My mom is used to me blasting this type of music through out the house so she didn't say anything, but this was probably the first time my aunt had heard it. I happened to be listening to Daft Punk which is a French, techno group, and my aunt commented that I was "weird" for listening to this and what the hell were they even talking about? I knew she was just kidding, but I told her "this music is for the young folk, you're too old to get it." I laughed when I said it, and of course afterwards I explained the assignment, but the look on her face was funny and shocking all at the same time. It was a mixture of confusion and having the sudden urge to run to a mirror and check for herself if this was the case. Now, I do have to mention that my aunt is far from old, at least in my opinion. I believe she's in her late forties, and she's a vegetarian and exercises regularly, so she looks great for her age. I still almost expected this type of reaction from my aunt though. I know as her 50th birthday looms closer she has become a little more sensitive about her age and looks. I think her response is typical of many middle-aged people, especially women. There seems to be some sort of misconception that growing older automatically equals unattractive or some other sort of negative connotation. Getting old doesn't necessarily mean wrinkly skin, liver spots, and a hearing aid. But in society, especially if you look at mass media that's always the stereotype that's portrayed. Luckily, my aunt was understanding after I explained the assignment, and of course I reassured her that she is not old and looked great no matter what. No harm, no foul :)