Op-Ed: Botox Is Warping Our View of 'Normal' Aging

Emma Rosenblum would like to remind women everywhere that Botox is optional, not required. In a piece for the Wall Street Journal, the novelist looks at how injectables, fillers, and facelifts have gone from beauty add-ons to a near-default expectation, especially for women over 40, and how that shift warps what "normal" aging looks like. She uses actor Amanda Peet—who appears on Apple TV's Your Friends & Neighbors with a naturally lined face—as a rare counterexample, alongside Kate Winslet, who has said she wants young women to see her wrinkled face and recognize it as ordinary.

Rosenblum doesn't judge individual choices so much as the culture that makes agelessness feel mandatory. "Since 2002, when Botox was approved for cosmetic use, wrinkles have all but disappeared from our screens and social media feeds," she writes, noting that, as a result, her own aging face can make her feel ugly and "invisible." To combat that, women in their 20s are turning to Botox while tween girls "are spending their allowance on skin care." That might result in a wrinkle-free forehead, but it won't keep a person from aging, Rosenblum writes, reminding women that "we don't have to keep doing this." For her full argument, read Rosenblum's essay in the Journal.