Maybe it's being over 40 and the prospect of yet another birthday approaching fast (I'm not complaining – it definitely beats the alternative). Or maybe it's coming back from our holiday in France, where things improve with age (at least the wine and cheese). Whatever the reason, I'm currently obsessed with Father Time, as you can see by this week's Website of the Week (where old things are transformed into art) and my Favourite Find for June (vintage furniture).

 

Call me hypersensitive, but I was especially incensed when I saw the lambasting (or should I say 'mutton basting'?) of Sarah Jessica Parker – who it turns out, is just a few months older than I. It seems she's had the cheek to show her face in public now she's over 40, especially if she will insist on having pores, let alone wrinkles, veins and the odd bunion. It's a disgrace and an affront to mankind apparently, as men in particular seem enraged that she hasn't had the dignity to check into a care home. The definition of ''decrepitude" is a seriously slippery slope, ladies (especially if you're sporting four-inch heels).

 

Here's a snippet from a review at Telegraph.co.uk:

"...like its characters – Samantha, who's on the verge of 50, and Carrie, who looks like a skeletal transvestite – it's getting on a bit. This really should be its final hurrah."

 

Forget the misogynistic tranny comment for a mo. "Getting on a bit"? So after 40 women should bow out and meekly disappear from our screens? Actresses bemoan the dearth of decent roles for 'older' women and with good reason. Who'd be an actress if at the stroke of 55 the only role you're offered is playing Jack Nicholson's mum?

 

Meanwhile Harrison Ford (65) earns $1 million per day playing adventurer Indy Jones. At least they had the decency to bring back Karen Allen instead of casting a 20-something as his sidekick. And he hasn't been spared the odd 'Fogey in a Fedora' comment himself. That reminds me, hat's off to Harrison, an old (no offence) supporter of Conservation International for his new ad raising awareness of rainforest deforestation.

 

I'm not saying SATC is the greatest thing since sliced organic wholemeal bread with sunflower seeds. Each of the characters has her foibles, but who doesn't? For the crime of growing older should these women be hounded into purdah? No – but could someone encourage Carrie to try a 12-step programme for that unsustainable shoe addiction – before it's too late!

 

If you think I'm being paranoid, remember Rush Limbaugh's comments about Hillary Clinton and the American addiction to physical perfection: "So the question is this: Will this country want to actually [sic] watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?"

 

Of course the Republican opponent is more than a decade older than Hillary, but he's got a Y chromosome. Political disagreement with Hillary is fair, but the misogyny on the campaign trail wasn't.  After all, it's an election for President of the United States – not Miss America. Make no mistake: sexism is alive and kicking in 21st-century politics, and Michelle Obama isn't immune either. Lauren Collins's recent profile of Michelle in The New Yorker (and then The Observer Magazine) states that the potential First Lady can seem detached and 'aloof' and here's the proof: "Her mother and her older brother both say that she has never once phoned them in tears." Shocking. Man isn't a quivering jelly: strong. Woman shows resilience (or even just basic emotional stability): cold fish. But one teary outburst and she'd be judged a hormonal wreck. A woman can't win. And this year, a woman won't.