Simon(e) van Saarloos: Against Ageism

‘Against Ageism: A Queer Manifesto’ starts with what it is not: it is not a socio-economic argument against ageism, celebrating ‘the elderly’ as economically viable. Author Simon(e) van Saarloos is not interested in natural arguments about age, which portray different age groups as valuable because of assumed inherent qualities.
Instead, this manifesto starts with an experience of childhood sexual abuse, and moves on to dissect the ways in which constructions of ‘age’ and ‘youth’ function to support and reproduce white supremacist patriarchy. Engaging with age and time in relation to crip and queer theory, anti-carceral approaches to harm and colonial notions of linear time, ‘Against Ageism’ calls to abolish the legal age of consent, as well as age related voting rights.