What happens to older sex goddesses? Seriously, I just read an article about Brigette Bardot and Sophia Loren. Brigette has long since forsaken her role as sex goddess  and is aging naturally as the majority of women do. Sophia,however, has chosen another path. She appeared in a sexy photo shoot a couple years ago with actresses like Penelope Cruz and  also performed a strip tease for the benefit of the Italian soccer team around the same time.

I'm not sure how well her strip tease was received, but I can tell you this- she didn't maintain her looks without a lot of plastic surgery. The very same plastic surgery that looks so great at 50 and 60 does not necessarily have the same appearance as plastic surgery at 74.

Yes, she is an amazing looking woman, and yes, it is harder for women to keep their va-va-voom going later in life than men, but how many plastic surgeries does one  woman need? When is enough enough? I know one 60-something-year old who has had more than her fair share of plastic surgeries, looks great, but still doesn't like the way she looks in the mirror. There will always be something wrong with her appearance, and as she ages, it will worsen.  

Of course, going the opposite route has its downfalls as well. Brigette Bardot looks her age. But there is nothing wrong with that- she is an older woman  and there is absolutely nothing wrong with looking your age. Instead of merely getting by on her sexuality, she has been helping save the seals by posing next to ice bergs and has served as a role model to both older and younger women. In honor of her 75th birthday, there is an exhibit about Brigitte and the Paparazzi, which includes some photographs taken of her from way back in the day.

Watching the aging stars of yesteryear makes me wonder what's going to happen to the stars of today as they get older. I picture Madonna still riding high, with or without plastic surgery, but I'm not so sure about Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Aniston. Their lives seem more ruled by men, while the men in Madonna's life seem ruled by Madonna than by anyone else. I think the challenge for any woman is to accept the fact that while we may be valued for our beauty (or not valued because of the perceived lack thereof), the real search for beauty lies within ourselves.