Pat Taub is a family therapist, writer and activist and life-long feminist. She hopes that WOW will start a conversation among other older women who are fed up with the ageism and sexism in our culture and are looking for cohorts to affirm their value as an older woman.
As a young woman, I never would have predicted that landing in my eighth decade would usher in the most content state of my life. I expected the challenges of being in an aging body would sour my mood. Instead, I finally grew up. I learned to reap the lessons from all my years of soul-searching, growing from romantic heartbreaks, career [...]
Pat Taub
This past week a brouhaha emerged over 81-year-old Martha Stewart’s spin as a swimsuit model for Sports Illustrated. While some woman applauded her courage at donning a bathing suit at 81, the majority condemned holding up- Martha’s air-brushed, plastic surgery enhanced face as a model for older women. Martha’s swimsuit turn highlights [...]
Pat Taub
We all have core stories we tell ourselves that keep us trapped in a negative narrative: “I can’t seem to speak up when my feelings are hurt; I have a hard time believing I’m good enough; I’m too old to be in a relationship.” Esther Perel, the popular relationship therapist, believes that the stories we tell ourselves are adaptive [...]
Pat Taub
The art world is seriously skewed towards male artists. Only 13 percent of artists in American museums are women, while only 15 percent are Black, Indigenous and People of Color. This dismal profile persists in spite of bold challenges by feminists, like the Guerrilla Girls, who emerged in 1985, donning guerrilla masks and staging women’s [...]
Pat Taub
GUEST POST by ELIZABETH LEONARD Did you know that at present approximately 140 million (!!) Americans live in poverty or one $400 crisis away from slipping into the financial abyss? In Waterville, Maine, where I have lived and worked for thirty years, I have been a local organizer with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral [...]
Pat Taub
Coming home to yourself means using your voice to express what matters to you, being authentic and not suppressing your feelings. In “The Myth of Normal,” noted Canadian psychiatrist, Gabor Mate, contends that nice women, who sacrifice their own needs caring for others, frequently develop autoimmune diseases. In other words, your health [...]
Pat Taub
GUEST POST by JANET WEIL “Who should decide how best to use the resources of the earth? What are the most effective ways to build a more sustainable future?” – Adam Rome, “The Genius of Earth Day” Three years ago, early in the global COVID pandemic, on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, I wrote a guest blog post, a remembrance of [...]
Pat Taub
GUEST POST by MOLLY SCHEN I’m coming to climate activism pretty late in life, in my early sixties. I’m no Greta Thunberg. But I can’t stay on the sidelines any longer. I am dismayed by the frequency of severe weather events—floods, fires, droughts, and storms. And I cannot ignore my own lived experience of hotter summers, milder winters, [...]
Pat Taub
In a recent dream I was attending a civic meeting. I grew frustrated with the speakers who addressed safe topics, like improving city parks. I wanted them to take on the latest school shooting, which took place in Nashville, killing three 9-year-old children and three adults. Unable to hold back my frustration, I bolted from my chair, [...]
Pat Taub
Still Life at Eighty is a reassuring memoir chock full of humor, irreverence, and wisdom. Abigail Thomas greets her old age with vulnerability and spunk, refusing to buy into the familiar worries that often accompany aging. She is refreshingly positive about aging. Thomas has learned to love her solitude, shed guilty feelings, and be unapologetic [...]
Pat Taub