by Erica and Karen

We detest being offered a seat on a bus or the subway just because we are over 65—seniors. (In fact, you turn into a senior much younger if you are a woman.)

We are all in favor of being polite, and anyone who appears weary, or is disabled, or is with child or dog or heavy bags, should be offered a seat by someone who is not. But a person is not weary or disabled just because she is over 65. Indeed, the linked assumptions that a person over a certain age is old, and old equals incapacitated, are outdated and counterfactual. Those assumptions are fueled by media stereotypes that have no foundation.

People of any age may be in need of a seat, but people over fifty are usually happy to stand if they are not carrying anything. We know that sitting is the new smoking! And we know how to ride standing up, even when there is a cowboy at the controls, because we have been doing it for a long long time.

We recognize that not everything about our bodies is likely to be better at 80 than at 20. But a lot of things are just fine, especially in the twenty first century, when we women who are aging into our 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s are healthier than ever, have long lives ahead of us, and have definite ideas about how to live those lives. Like we lived the first part--engaged and involved, full of vim and vigor, standing up and walking fast.

And to all of you lovely young people who think about offering us a seat—there are times when we really do need one. Like when we overdo it at the Greenmarket and look like fully loaded mules. If you offer, we will gratefully accept. We'll do the same for you.