HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO RAMPANT AGE DISCRIMINATION? Seeking ‘to be visible,’ more Americans 65 and older are getting plastic surgery.

Maria Vargas was fed up with looking like an old woman. That was how the 68-year-old felt when she walked down the street. “I’d lost the looks of men,” said Vargas, who is divorced. “I’d walk by men and men would probably go, “Yeah, there’s a cute grandma.’” So in February, after months of wrestling with the decision, she got a neck lift.

“I got so excited about the difference that it made that I was like, ‘Oh my god, I want more,” said Vargas, a Sacramento, CA resident who had never had elective plastic surgery before. Now, she said, “No 30- or 45-year-old guy is going to ask me, ‘Hey, what’s your number, honey?’ But a 60-year-old will.”

Wait, I thought the Male Gaze was a bad thing. Plus:

There are different economic considerations now. More Americans 65 and older are working than at any time since the turn of the century, and many face age discrimination.

If opportunities are accruing to the young “and you begin to get old, you want to fit in….You’re invisible. And maybe this is the way for people to be visible.” Milner said.

Or at least not mistreated.