Market Value #2: Muffin Tops - How Not to Age Gracefully

The thing with a person’s Market Value in the dating world is that it does change over time. That’s a good thing, if one honest enough with herself.

I had a co-worker who was a cheerleader – twenty years before I met her. Through the years she’d gained quite a bit of weight. The problem was, she either couldn’t or wouldn’t admit it to herself. She stubbornly continued to wear the same skin-tight, itsy bitsy teenie weenie clothing that was way too small for her. The result? Muffin top and back cleavage squeezed out for the whole office to see.

It was really painful to watch.

When a woman is young and physically fit, she can enhance her market value by dressing to her advantage. But as one ages, the same revealing clothing that sent men into a frenzy has the opposite effect. The look of the muffin top – and the desperation and self-denial it presents – will send men running away. In that case, her market value actually decreases, not increases, because she’s exposing her weakness.

To women like my coworker, to stop wearing tight clothing would be like admitting defeat in the dating game. But they’re really going about this the wrong way. As I mentioned before, there are many factors in determining one’s market value. An older woman couldn’t out-compete a younger one on looks alone, and she shouldn’t try to.

Instead, wear something pretty in your own size. Be sophisticated, be confident, be well-read. There’s nothing as alluring as a woman who aged like a fine wine. Kate Vernon, Michelle Forbes, and Helena Bonham Carter actually look hotter as older actresses, and they are able to play much more complicated characters than their younger counterparts.