Madonna Ciccone Quotes

Just drawing on my own experience, I never - I never - personally reference myself as old. I don't think of myself as old, but I certainly would not say that to a man.

I think if you give in and accept society's stereotypes, then you start thinking, 'I cannot dance till late at night because I'm 70.'

Men are allowed to get older and women are not.

All my life, I faced sexism and racism and then, when I hit 40, ageism.

Also, I learned whether you are gay, bisexual, it doesn't matter, you know... because, at the end of the day, they're both gross. But mostly, I learned that elderly black women are wise beyond their years... but younger black women are prostitutes.

Hollywood is sexist and age-ist, and that covers all the bases, I guess.

A woman my age is not supposed to be attractive or sexually appealing. I just get kinda tired of that.

Race and gender definitely came up, occasionally, in my life at work. But the bigger challenge that I had was age. I took roles earlier in my career than people expected, and so a lot of what I got was, 'Do you actually know enough to do this?'

When I started out, there were three things that made film people look at me with condescension, I was young, I was black, and I was female. I have won a certain respect, but I think the film community still sees directing as a male job.

Ageism is as odious as racism and sexism.

I hate the idea that you shouldn't wear something just because you're a certain age.

I'm 65 and I guess that puts me in with the geriatrics. But if there were fifteen months in every year, I'd only be 48. That's the trouble with us. We number everything. Take women, for example. I think they deserve to have more than twelve years between the ages of 28 and 40.

At the drop of a hat, people will say there are no roles for women after 40. It's there with a bunch of other rules I'm not interested in.

Usually when a woman is 60, it's over.

Old people should be heard but not seen. Young people should be seen, not heard.

In the U.S., with very few exceptions, actresses older than 35 are simply discarded.

Sex and older women used to be considered an oxymoron, rarely mentioned in the same breath.

In the 18th century, most people believed that God had ordained specific and different spheres for men and women relative to their roles in life. Some people still feel that way.

There are companies around today who will not hire over age 40, will not train after age 50 and who don’t want you around after age 60.

People don't want to be thought of as racists ... all polls tend to over-report tolerance.

A political woman loses her beauty within a year.

To me, saying you're not a feminist should be like saying you're a racist. It should be that politically unacceptable.

I'm not saying it's easy, and it's definitely harder for women. Because there is definitely a double standard about gorgeous older men, and it's different for older women.

What's worse in Hollywood, being handicapped or being a woman over 50?

Ageism is a variation of racism or sexism, all the other isms.