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The incident also highlights the specific challenges of aging in the public eye. While male politicians are often allowed to grow older with a sense of gravitas and unbothered ruggedness women are expected to maintain an impossible standard of physical perfection well into their sixties and beyond. Every wrinkle every gray hair and certainly every wardrobe malfunction is treated as a sign of decline rather than a natural part of a life well lived. Palins resilience in the face of this scrutiny is a quiet form of rebellion. By continuing to show up by continuing to speak her mind and by refusing to retreat into a safe and quiet retirement she is challenging the expiration date that society often tries to place on women of her generation.
