Is it Okay to Be Sexy at 76?

I admit it - I watch Dancing With the Stars. For fun. I enjoy learning about the difference between the Foxtrot and the Quickstep- but I also enjoy watching people who are successful in one arena totally put themselves out there to succeed in another.

This season, it's been fun to watch 76 year old Florence Henderson compete with others one quarter her age. Last night, after having been told by the judges that it was her best dance ever, and despite having received judges scores that put her well above the two 19 year olds who were at the bottom, the "popular vote" voted her out. I've heard it alleged that the Tea Party was behind it it - urging their supporters to vote for Bristol Palin- and that this is a harbinger of what their power will do in the November elections.

I don't buy it. Last week, Henderson danced a rhumba that was sensual and sexual. While it was no more explicit that other rhumbas I've seen on the show, judge Carrie Ann Inaba said that it "creeped her out". So I guess seeing 76 year old women as sexual beings is creepy? And on The View, co-host Sherri Shepard maintained that it was "icky" when Barry Williams (who had played Henderson's son Greg on The Brady Bunch) kissed Henderson during a dance rehearsal.


Henderson was voted off because the public was not comfortable with seeing a 76 year old woman as a sexual being - so they spared her 19 year old competitors. Age-ism is alive and well in America.