Fountain of Youth 3
yellow helpers these days, however, with this widespread popping of pills
being done not to calm down but in the pursuit to increase longevity,
perhaps by decades. Gobbling dozens of pills is just one of many foun-
tains of youth from which many boomers are drinking as they attempt to
“antiage,” that is, stop or slow the body’s natural process of getting older.
Sadly, the media as well as marketers have both promoted the notion that
getting older does not have to occur, contributing to the silly proposition that
steps should be taken to circumvent aging. My local PBS station frequently
airs antiaging shows such as Aging Backwards , for example, whose pro-
ducers promise viewers that they can “reverse the aging process and look
19 years younger in 30 minutes a day.” Olay, the maker of skincare products,
urges consumers to look “ageless,” an appeal that reflects our general antip-
athy toward getting older. Despite their popular appeal, “aging backwards”
and “agelessness” are, of course, absurd concepts that have absolutely no
foundation in how the human body or any other living organism works.
Those who yearn to reverse the aging process are attempting to negate a
fundamental part of life that every human in history has experienced. “Anti-
aging” is, quite simply, antihuman, making any and all efforts to achieve
such a thing contrary to the basic mechanism of life as we know it.
1
Despite all this, “antiaging” has emerged as a multibillion-dollar business,
driven by boomers who have no intention to get physically old. Many boom-
ers are fi ghting (versus embracing) the aging process, with the generation
that defined (if not invented) youth culture largely resistant to the human
body’s insistence to do what it is programmed to do. “Antiaging” therapies
are thus very popular, despite the fact that there is little or no evidence that
any of them work, a sign of some boomers’ desperate (and futile) attempt
to cling to their physical youth. It’s clear that consumers will do and pay
virtually anything for something that promises to stop or reverse the aging
process, with youth still perceived by many as the ultimate social currency.
2
The ever-growing antiaging industry is only advancing our trepidation of
getting older and reinforcing ageist inclinations. Precious little evidence has
been produced to indicate that any therapy or technique slows or reverses
the aging process yet, much to marketers’ delight, consumers seem deter-
mined to fi nd a fountain of youth. Modern day Ponce de Leons are follow-
ing the tradition of many in the past in search of some magical treatment
with purported rejuvenating powers. (In the 13th century, one of the great
minds of the day, British mathematician and scientist Roger Bacon, main-
tained that sleeping next to a young virginal female in order to breathe in her
wholesome air would restore youth.) Twenty-first-century versions of such
therapies are nearly as silly and carry much greater potential health risks.
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