Do You Tell People How Old You Are?

I read a headline on one of those annoying sites that pretend to be all feminist and progressive, but aren’t really (I’m looking at you HuffPo), that simply read, “Do you tell people your age?” I didn’t click the link. Mainly because I have a firm policy of not giving those sites more click-throughs for their sensationalist headlines. And also because I was pretty sure that the story would have just made me roll my eyes.

But I did have a conversation about it in my head. I can’t say that I’ve ever really hidden how old I was. I used to joke about being 28, but mostly because I thought it was funny to pick an age that was so much lower than I really was. I mean, never let anyone believe I was younger than I really was. I always cleared it up and had a laugh that I was able surprise them.

But somewhere after turning about 38, I started to not only happily claim my age, but just start throwing it into conversation randomly. Like, ‘Yeah, I’m 43. I earned every year!’

I don’t know any women (or men) who have hang-ups about their age. I suppose there are other women out there who do, but I don’t know any of them. I hope that it means that getting older is not as much of a burden for women. But it might just mean that I hang around women (and men) who really are feminist and progressive, and to whom age really is just a number.
What about you? Do you claim your true age?

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