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I got carded a while back and I was thinking "hell yeah, all the exercise and eating right is paying off" and then she said "yeah, store policy is we have to card everybody no matter how old they look."

Ouch

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Charming-Insurance@reddit

None of us look under 30. I get annoyed when I get carded if it’s not required, I find it condescending

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Typical-Tax1584@reddit

Last year I was just getting some wine at a liquor store down the street and they have a little sign on the register that says "We card EVERYONE" - so I'm checking out and I pull out my id and say, "do you want to see my id?" and the cashier just starts laughing.

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ihavenoidea81@reddit

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BananaPants430@reddit

Happened to me in my late 30s. I got carded and said to the cashier, "You just made my day" only to get the response, "We have to card everyone regardless of appearance." Dude, let me have a few minutes of feeling like I'm not an ancient hag...

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South-Juggernaut-451@reddit

Grocery clerk asked for ID for wine purchase, looked at me and said never mind. Dang.

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AmputeeHandModel@reddit

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jjxanadu@reddit

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After_Preference_885@reddit

i spoke to a gutter guy yesterday

I don't own a home and was wondering why you were talking to guys in the gutter about your dad until that all clicked in place for me

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DaoFerret@reddit

I’m about your age.

Took a class with my S.O. and they turned to me after we paid and walked away from the counter and said “they gave you the senior discount.”

As soon as we were out of sight I was all…

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leicanthrope@reddit

Minimal balding, just a bit of salt and pepper, but a beard that makes me look like a Pallas Cat...

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Awkwardpanda75@reddit

Sounds majestic af

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Nopenotme77@reddit

I tried handing my ID over at one of those type of stores and the person rolled their eyes. Needless to say I look like I am in my 40's.

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tastysharts@reddit

HA! What a dick!

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Toosder@reddit

I went and bought something from a thrift store and as I was checking out she said "you get a discount if you're over 60".

The guy next to him gasped and then said off to the side, “you shouldn’t say that, man”.

I just laughed it off. I recently decided to stop coloring my hair (silver came in my 20’s and I was so over spending every 3 weeks in a salon covering it up). The silver hair is still a stigma for some - they think - silver/gray hair ages women but it’s distinguishing on men. Pfft. Oh well.

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RealSinnSage@reddit

if my hair went silver i would just cut it like a “man’s”, get that salt and pepper edging and OWN that shit

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cardie82@reddit

My hair is slowly getting more grays. My hairdresser asked if I wanted to start coloring my hair to cover it up. I declined because I’m lazy and cheap. I’d never keep up with dying it every few weeks. She now calls them my glitter.

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Be proud that you know yourself well enough to know what’s not going to work for you. I feel like so many of our problems in life could be resolved if we just knew ourselves well enough to nope out before we make big commitments on things like bangs, hair coloring, a new puppy…

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Azuras_Star8@reddit

Better than bald /cry.

PlantedinCA@reddit

I have preferred bald since I was like 12. Fully support head shaving.

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On_my_last_spoon@reddit

How I did it:

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EBN_Drummer@reddit

I got carded at a bar my band plays at but he was new and hadn't seen us play there yet, and being night dropped at least 5 years off my face.

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sunshineparadox_@reddit

Lmao at “don’t speak to me again”. But I got real sick from Covid and spent over a year stuck in bed, most of that on oxygen. My comorbid “symptom” that made everything so much worse was shitty sleep. I’ve been having issues with it for decades.

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zoey8068@reddit

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sweet_pickles12@reddit

I was carded once. “Just for the credit card.” After he had carded my friend, same age as me.

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omegaphallic@reddit

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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DBE113301@reddit

Just two years ago, when I was 44, I could have passed for someone ten years younger than that. Not sure why, but the last two years have aged me considerably. I'm now 46, and I look all 46 years of my life. I used to look young, and now I just look like a fit old guy who's desperately trying to hang on to his youth.

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flyinthesoup@reddit

I once read that around this age is when the first telomere length reduction happens, and that has some implications with how "old" someone physically feels and looks like, even if that person is otherwise healthy. Maybe that's what happened? A lot of people have posted before in similar threads that they did "get older" around mid 40s.

I personally still feel fine, I still have one more year to go hahah.

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scifithighs@reddit

I am also a butterface! High five!

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DBE113301@reddit

You know Droopy Dog? Imagine a real life version of that cartoon character. Not sure what the hell happened. Lol

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scifithighs@reddit

When I look in the mirror, all I see is my goddamn mother with a better haircut. At least I have fond memories of Droopy Dog!

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Caftancatfan@reddit

Me too! I got asked last month if I wanted the senior discount at the thrift store.

It’s like, how fucking dare you? I’m just trying to find antique candy dishes and quilting books. What is giving senior about that? (Ok, I hear it.)

Luckily, this ad is literally for you. There is an answer to your question. Geritol.

I used to be all old and busted but I took some Geritol and now I am a smoke show. Like, super super hot.

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xrelaht@reddit

Spontaneous human combustion isn’t exactly a selling point.

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RainerGerhard@reddit

I think you must have a very Victorian attitude towards spontaneous human combustion.

Put on a pulled back ponytail and it'll highlight the cigarette and lead air effects even more.

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flyinthesoup@reddit

My mom looks super close to the lady in green in the picture. My mom is 70. I'm 44 and I think I look like the lady in yellow in the front, but with a more modern haircut lol. A few of these ladies would definitely look better with current hairstyles, but others just look older no matter what!

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Spamberguesa@reddit

A few of them, maybe. A lot of them have a noticeable case of lifelong Chainsmoker Skin, which is significantly less common among 46-year-olds in 2025.

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TiEmEnTi@reddit

I've smoked for 24 years and people tell me I still look like I'm 30. I think it's actually sunscreen lol

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SassySweetSorceress@reddit

I agree. I get a lot of compliments on my skin. But I also don’t wear makeup on a daily basis - which I think is the real culprit. I’d love to see studies on women who use skincare products & makeup on a daily basis without the makeup vs someone who doesn’t use any of that. I think that would be the determining factor - & I think the billion dollar companies don’t want women knowing that secret.

I’ve yet to meet another smoker who also has more wrinkles than anyone else - the ones who are aged in the face & body more are typically alcoholics who also smoke. Alcohol really dehydrates the skin & depletes your body of a lot of nutrients so it makes sense that they have more aging skin.

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Blenderx06@reddit

My mom once got rejected from a product tester job for older women after the dermatologist looked at her and decided she didn't have enough wrinkles for her age.

She's been a smoker forever and doesn't wear sunscreen, eats like crap. Has never in all my life owned an oz of makeup or any skincare product. Just washed with plain old ivory soap. The derm readily agreed it was probably that she didn't wear makeup. I think it's a combo of that and genetics.

It's such a weird age. Some days I look in the mirror and think Hey - I'm cute and could pass for 30 .... other days it's like the Cryptkeeper is looking back at me. 🫠

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sskylar@reddit

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An extremely Xennial comment and also the first thing I thought of when I saw this photo, LOL

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sskylar@reddit

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phunkyunkle@reddit

You need a good pair of shoes.

The fact that this is a ad for Geritol - a vitamin for when you’re geriatric 😭

I’m nearly 8 months and it’s ironically been my healthiest and most straightforward pregnancy so far. No gestational diabetes, no slightly fast heart rates, etc.

drwebb@reddit

You're being a wussy.

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KerouacsGirlfriend@reddit

Lol! I haven’t heard that one in decades!

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drwebb@reddit

Boomers were such dicks man! You know they probably invented wedgies and noogies too.

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Booji-Boy@reddit

Mom spent an hour and a half and 75 cents worth of Aqua Net to make that hair-do happen, and it's going to stay perfect no matter what

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KerouacsGirlfriend@reddit

That was it! “I just went to the salon!”

I'm so glad I grew up in California. I remember smoking allowed inside restaurants, but it was gone by the time I was about 10, and I think prior to that it was like 80% non-smoking section.

By the time I reached drinking age, smoking in bars was already banned.

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cardie82@reddit

It’s kind of like the photoshops of the Golden Girls with modern hair styles. They stop looking really old and look more youthful. We associate short, permed hair with old ladies and likely will fit a long time.

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Knusperwolf@reddit

To be fair, they had a similar birth year as Marilyn Monroe.

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werdnurd@reddit

That’s some of it. Back row center and right ladies and yellow turtleneck lady would look younger with modern hair. The other ladies look older regardless.

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Fight_those_bastards@reddit

People chain smoked and also would just hang out in the sun for hours to get a “healthy tan.”

For one, they said old, not ugly.

For two, I think it's the gray hair in the front but blue on right would probably look older if she had that haircut and color. Left side of the frame is looking a bit worse for wear as well. Don't smoke, kids.

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Into-the-stream@reddit

The ad says they are all the same age, but does that mean they actually are?

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Wyden_long@reddit

Lies? In my advertising?

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nerdextra@reddit

Stop gasting my flabbers!

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palmerry@reddit

Balderdash!

Poppycock!

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imatumahimatumah@reddit

Or that they airbrushed you older to sell their pills.

Plus the additional insult of everyone that recognized you from the ad, thought you must have started taking the pills because you look so much better now.

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redditshy@reddit

RIGHT?

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DrMcJedi@reddit

I’d like to see the AI version of these ladies with modern clothing and hairstyles…and better lighting.

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CrazyDizzle@reddit

This picture is why you should use sunscreen.

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Outrageous_Picture39@reddit

Yellow turtleneck, back middle, back right.

Those are the only ones that look remotely 46-ish today.

I was around tobacco smoke since I was born too (hello, parents smoking in the car in winter)…

Vsauce did a cool video about that a while back

I think a lot of it has to do with style and fashion… they are dressed in clothes and hair styles from their generation, and those of us from a younger generation associate those styles with older people.

To the left of her, lady looks about the same age, maybe a little younger. The lady right below her in yellow looks even younger.

And the two ladies all the way to our left look at least 55.

Maybe its nicotine.

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Successful-Winter237@reddit

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Is it real, or is it Marlboro?

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wheres_the_revolt@reddit

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Time-Calligraphero@reddit

Me too! I probably look most like the lady in yellow, eyebags anyway.

Eventually will get a nose job, facelift necklift and this a few weeks ago after a scary 5 hour drive on Halloween lol and working all day then going to BTTF in the theater and wolfing down a whole bucket of popcorn and candy and coke. Yum. Worth it.

Yeah sure.

"You and Oprah can believe that if you want..."

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Ashleej86@reddit

I look younger at 49

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Lemon_sherbert16@reddit

I wish it was still acceptable for women to look their age like this

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Italianinsomniac@reddit

No sunscreen, smoking and drinking, “matronly” hair and makeup can all explain this. There was definitely also a culture of “dressing your age” and changing your hair to “mature” styles which we rightfully flipped off and moved on from.

They’ll take my t shirts and jeans off me when I’m dead.

Also: ads can lie.

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Calculusshitteru@reddit

Honestly I'm 39 and not even a Xennial, but you 46-year-olds look old to me even now lol. If someone photoshopped these women to have modern hair, makeup, and clothing, they would look like you all.

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wooltab@reddit

Yeah, their faces show more age than one would expect today, but the hairstyles are really doing the heavy lifting here.

Is it just the hair?

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PeterPunksNip@reddit

My own mom (silent gen) didn't look like that at 50 ! Way to dress and habit of baking in the sun from a young age may have contributed to it. Now we are aware that sun is ageing us, and latter kids in sunscreen to protect their skin.

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clandahlina_redux@reddit

I’m 45. I better get some geritol quick!

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sam_strider@reddit

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Oof.

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Cherry-Coloured-Funk@reddit

They’re unfiltered in harsh lighting with (now) outdated styling. IMO, a couple look like the average 46 yr old today, who had access to sunscreen earlier in life (it wasn’t used much before the 50s nor regulated until the 80s) and far less exposure to second hand smoke. Obviously some look older and that’s the point of the ad.

I actually think these women are 🔥🔥🔥

They have lived lives. They are a freaking SQUAD of female power.

They are ok with aging - haven't succumbed to expensive and impossible beauty standards.

They have never tried to be a social media influencer.

They were one of the first generations to potentially have their own bank account and get divorced if needed.

They remind me of my nan who was an inspiration because of her successful teaching career.

These women grew up when cigarettes were advertised as being healthy. DR's would recommend a 'good smoke" after a hard day. I wonder how many of these women were smoking a pack a day since they were 16?

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VincentMac1984@reddit

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Hey yah eyy yah yaa. Smoke weed er'ry day!

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Kaka-doo-run-run@reddit

How did I know this would be an advertisement for Geritol?

Oh my fuck I am NOT geritol age yet!

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Professional-Head83@reddit

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Suntans, cigarettes, and way more alcohol.

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SkippingPrologues@reddit

Wow. Im in a weird place with aging. I feel like I look basically the same as I did in my 20’s just with more wrinkles…. I don’t even have any greys really. (Still one offs I can pick out lol)..

Then my kids friends saw a photo of me in my mid-20’s and said “THAT’s your Mom?!?!?!?”

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Far_Cut_@reddit

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47m here. Been looking younger for the biggest part of my adulthood not so much so the last 4-5 years. A few weeks ago, was at the hospital for an eye exam and the lady who needed to insert drops called me "wheres that young man who needs second round of drops?" You can imagine she made my day. Fun fact : after a quick chat she was only 3 years older but looks around 10 more 😅

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Melodic-Comb9076@reddit

different times. different world for women back then.

i think they were just recently allowed to even vote.

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PhoneJazz@reddit (OP)

They had the vote for about 50 years at this point, BUT they still couldn’t open their own credit card account or get an abortion.

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napalmnacey@reddit

Geritol?! I’m 46, not 86!!

Fuck you! 😂😭

Anyway, these ladies look as fly as fuck and you know they know how to load a summer punch or craft a cocktail.

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PhoneJazz@reddit (OP)

They’re here for a good time, not a long time 🥂

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Jewggerz@reddit

Damn, these gals need to cut back on the tobacco.

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qlionp@reddit

My wife and I both watched Kevin Hart's new comedy special last night and we both thought he was in his mid to late '50s. Turns out he's 46

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Mysterious-Let6872@reddit

Also the straight up shaming, yikes. They at least disguise it now. Actually maybe that's not better...

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PhoneJazz@reddit (OP)

Cigarettes, booze, and dated hair and makeup will age you, for sure. Even Elizabeth Taylor, shown here at 46:

I’m honestly more disturbed that this is an ad for Geritol.

It’s like a yearbook photo of all my catholic school teachers

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HYThrowaway1980@reddit

Me at 41 (4 years ago)

I looked mint. Look even better now.

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outcastspidermonkey@reddit

I need some Geritol.

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BillG2330@reddit

This makes me, a day away from 46, feel GREAT.

Damn

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susieallen@reddit

Crazy. My mom at 70 looked the same age as them.

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ChairBearCat@reddit

Is it possible, yes…is it likely, as part of a 70’s advert for geritol? doubt it

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Jr5309@reddit

As a 46 year old woman. I don’t hate this ad.

Out of curiosity I applied “Young 3” in FaceApp to each of the women. Personally, I didn’t consider moisturizer seriously until I was in my 40s, and I do think it made a huge improvement. I’m sure the women posing for this picture didn’t have all the typical model makeup and advertisement airbrushing. Heck it might have even been airbrushed to make it worse lol!

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MaddyKet@reddit

Blue and green are just old looking broads I guess. 😹

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thenextepidemik@reddit

Damn. And I just turned 46 today lol

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MaddyKet@reddit

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LOL jk I’m older than you

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PhoneJazz@reddit (OP)

Happy birthday!

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Ok_Journalist120@reddit

Well I feel attacked 😅

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clover426@reddit

Hear me out- women aging isn’t a moral failing. Middle aged men by and large don’t look good but we don’t have to wring our hands about it and shun them- it is what it is.

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