http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,682026,00.html

Both huge and increasing in the Netherlands and Germany at around 25% while smallest in Italy at around 5%.

The under22s are just that only very briefly.

And isn’t it us oldies who buy most of their toys, too?

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/09/11/lord-heseltine-hits-out-at-ageism-in-britain-s-society-91466-24661278/

Ageism is rife in Britain, found a study conducted in 2005, the year I emigrated to the UK:
http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/3DE4E64AB5874330A11C1AB7790587BC.asp

(Download the study:
http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/Documents/Ageism_Report.pdf)

Yes, Britain has a baffling attitude to age and I find that a much bigger cause for concern. I’d be interested in anyone’s input on the background for this ageism (to the extent that it offers clues for how to change this). Where on earth does it come from? I’ve wondered whether it might have something to do with wars, with the men being gone too long and families perhaps finding themselves unable to have (more) children after those wars.

It was a very odd experience to me to be lumped with 80-, 90- and 100-year-olds, to have people speak to me ve-ry clear-ly and loud-ly occasionally (and be treated as if I were senile, as well), not obtain good professional advice from opticians (why would such an old person still need good eyesight after all?), and to be warned to be careful when stepping off the bus…

(Largely, to be shut out from normal life, from developments in society?)

But I was only 44 when I moved to the UK…

In fact, I cannot rule out that much of the behavior that I experience as sexism in Britain is in fact ageism, but I do have the feeling that it applies to women much more than it applies to men.

Having said that, I think it is up to us (every person in Britain over the age of eh, 22) to keep hammering home that being over 22 does not equal being “ridiculous”.

A good example of this is an older woman who abseils from all sorts of buildings. She is in her 80s or 90s and very clear-minded. I have heard several radio interviews with her and she does not allow interviewers to treat her like she’s a silly cantankerous child. She completely ignores their chiding, addresses them at the level of a normal adult and for instance challenges them – no, simply asks them – to abseil with her. I have heard the balance and tone in such an interview shift markedly.

But how do I do that in practice? In some shops, I am treated with an obvious lack of respect that suddenly changes dramatically when it becomes clear that I have a small business.

So the secret is … turnover? Do we – the over22s – simply have to keep hammering the message home that we present a large chunk of society and hence a huge market and that it is not smart to treat us like we’re silly senile cantankerous children? Hammer home that we buy our own toys?

(I cannot believe that I am typing this while in my forties, and it makes me want to LAUGH OUT LOUD!)

Women are people too.

But don’t worry, I am from one of the least emancipated countries in the world myself – when you look at the job market, the percentage of female university professors, corporate directors and similar factors – and that is certainly not the “fault” of Dutch males. Things are rarely as black and white as they can seem, and most of these things are simply the result of historic developments. Chance.

I remember that a large international survey carried out among YOUNG men from all sorts of countries one or two years back revealed British men to be much more family-oriented than Dutch men, for example. I seem to remember that young Dutch men saw themselves much more as providers, not so much as participants or contributors.

I often see (and I am pleasantly amazed when I see) British men play with their children or walk with baby carriages – on their own! – which to my knowledge is still a very rare sight in the Netherlands. Babies, however, tend to be associated with young people, with younger generations. And it may place some emphasis on women as “baby producers”.

I’ll try to find that survey again. I learned about in a Dutch tweet; I think it was a major magazine that conducted it. It was very good, in any case.

But it doesn’t matter.

Thanks!

1. That explains why I couldn’t find you or your research on the Improbable research web site.

2. I confess I did wonder… Funnily enough, it may reveal that the number 8 is my favorite number! (I have two explanations for it. It’s symmetrical and I like the sound of the Dutch letter a and 8 is pronounced “acht” in Dutch.)

I’m Prof Alan Collins, from Portsmouth. I’m just offering a correction for your excellent blog –

1. I didn’t win an IgNobel – but have apparently been an intermittent contender.

2. Re: Harley Cobb – he had 4000 not 8000 enquiries – he went on to interview 800 and date 81!

Cheers

Alan