More interesting is the near total invisibility of 'ordinary' women once they get beyond the age they're interesting to men. I don't mean the likes of Helen Mirren, but Josephine Bloggs.
This, I think, is the reason they can make us feel insecure. If we felt that we were attractive and desirable still, even with the extra pounds and wrinkles that age brings, then we couldn't be panicked into buying creams and diets.
As it is, it's all too easy to feel that we won't do as we are. And sadly, since some of us have direct experience of having been traded in for a younger model, the message 'keep young and beatuiful if you want to be loved' has some teeth
I have to say i've stopped reading women's magazines since it dawned on me that their total reason for existence was to make me feel that I needed to buy something in order to match up, one way or another.