On Wednesday, Madonna graced Instagram with a photoset of her in nothing but lingerie, Louboutins and a perfect manicure - showing off her body while sprawled on a bed, at the side of a bed, and even halfway under a bed.
The carousel of images was captioned ‘Angel watching over me’, perhaps referencing her songs Angel and I’m In Love With Love.
Most of her fans have shown their excitement for the photos, with some comments under the post reading ‘YES!!!!!!’, ‘The mother of sex!’ and ‘Madonna once again proving she’s the embodiment of sex’.
Yet, others are shocked by the post and even outraged - making inappropriate and ageist comments towards the 63-year-old Queen of Pop. One Twitter user shared the photoset, writing ‘Madonna needs to start acting her age’. Another commented: ‘Madonna’s getting too old for this, she probably injured herself making these photos. '
Piers Morgan unsurprisingly had something negative to say about the photos too, tweeting a screenshot of the last image in the gallery with the caption ‘rock bottom’.
(In fact, Madonna actually had to reupload the pics - as Instagram removed photos 'without warning or notification', probably due to the fact a bit of her nipple was showing. In a new caption to the set, the popstar has asked why 'we live in a culture that allows every inch of a woman's body to be shown except a nipple'. She continued: 'As if that is the only part of a woman's anatomy that could be sexualized. The nipple that nourishes the baby! Can't a mans nipple be experienced as erotic??!!' She concluded her post with, 'Giving thanks that I have managed to maintain my sanity through four decades of censorship…… sexism……ageism and misogyny.')
The reaction to Madonna sharing a few sexy photos paints a grim picture of how we view older women, especially in the music industry. Madonna was long considered the poster-girl for ‘sexy’, a sex symbol since the 80s and even writing a notorious coffee table book titled ‘SEX’, so this kind of risqué post is nothing new for Madonna’s brand. In the 80s and 90s, she was known for pushing the limit of what was ‘acceptable’ in the industry, showing women that being sexy could be fun for ourselves - not just for men. In 1987, she was crowned the sexiest female artist by Rolling Stone and they named Express Yourself one of the sexiest music videos of all time.
Yet, sometime around the time Madonna surpassed the age of 40, audiences started to feel differently about her.
It’s difficult to remember the last time Madonna did anything slightly resembling sexy in public without an onslaught of comments like ‘desperate’, ‘cringey’ and ‘give it up’ - whether it's her appearance on James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke at age 58 (where people were ‘disgusted’ by her twerking) or her performance at the Billboard awards in 2016, where audiences responded with ‘she needs to put some clothes on’.
Women commonly feel a switch in how they’re perceived after the age of 40, when they’re no longer considered ‘young’ by the rest of society. Research conducted in 2018 by cosmetic surgeon Dr Julian De Silva found that women start to feel 'completely invisible' once they reach the age of 45. More than two thirds of female respondents said they began to notice a waning in sexual attention once they reached their 40s, with the decline becoming more noticeable at 45.
I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around.
Women are not expected to wanted, sexy or alluring after 40 - proof alone of this exists by the sheer lack of sex toys, lingerie and romantic getaways marketed towards over 40s. Sex is presumed to be for 'the young' and thus any older woman engaging in sexiness is scrutinised.
Madonna has always been aware of the ageism in the industry. Back in 2016, she delivered an intense acceptance speech for a Woman of the Year award at the Billboard Women in Music 2016 where she spoke against the bias she’s faced for deigning to age as a woman, and taking pride in remaining a force in an industry that she said sees ageing as a ‘sin’.
‘I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around,’ she had said back then.
But the ageist comments kept coming, when Madonna was also criticised in 2019 for her ‘young’ performance at The Billboard Music Awards. Speaking about the matter, she said 'I mean a lot of people have said: "Oh, that’s so pathetic, I hope she’s not still doing that in 10 years." I mean, who cares? What if I am? I mean, Is there a rule? Are you just supposed to die when you’re 40? That’s basically what everybody wants people to do.’
And she’s right. Back then, she was told to ‘act her age’ and it's happening again right now.
Women and girls - especially those in the centre of the public eye like Madonna - grow up being sexualised whether they like it or not. Most women feel pressure to adhere to unrealistic body standards - with 6 in 10 women feeling they don’t.
Why is it okay for society to sexualise Madonna for her entire life, but she’s not allowed to sexualise herself without being called ‘desperate’ after the age of 40? Even feminists like Germaine Greer and Camille Paglia - who once praised Madonna for her hits which changed the game for both women and the LGBTQ+ community - turned their back on her, with Greer dismissing Madonna as a woman 'in her dotage.’
Madonna is proof that while women will be sexualised in every which way, the world will turn their backs on them once they start sexuaising themselves, especially if it’s for performance or profit. It’s the same ideology that got Sarah Jayne Dunn sacked from Hollyoaks earlier this month and shames any woman with an OnlyFans career.
Madonna is having to fight against a sexist, ageist culture that once uplifted her, more so than her male counterparts will ever have to fight.
‘There are no rules for boys, but there are rules for girls,' Madonna added in her 2016 Billboard speech. 'You are allowed to be objectified by men and dress like a slut, but don’t own your sluttiness.'
That’s exactly the type of sexism that Piers - and all the other people shaming Madonna - are reinforcing. Madonna was and still is a sex symbol regardless of her age. Playing and performing with sexiness and what that means for her and the women who idolise her is what she’s good at. Let her keep running the show.
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