Poorna Bell is rewriting the rules around ageing

About this episode

Poorna Bell discusses her new book and challenges the negative narratives surrounding ageing for women.

This week I’m delighted to welcome back the powerhouse Poorna Bell. Poorna is a journalist, author and speaker known for her advocacy on body image and diversity. And now she’s adding ageing to the list of things she is not about to shut up about. When Poorna first came on The Shift she had not long turned 40 and it’s fair to say she was a little trepidatious about the ageing process. Hardly surprising since the narrative that’s pedalled to younger women is that there’s nothing worse than being a woman over 40. Now 45 and perimenopausal, she’s shouting out loud about the potential of ageing life and the revolution she sees happening all around her amongst older women. Poorna has written two novels and three works of non-fiction. She’s here to talk about the latest. In the brilliant She Wanted More Poorna addresses the stories she was told about ageing and talks to other women about their experience. The aim? To rewrite the fear based narrative around ageing and reimagine what older life can look like for women. Poorna joined me to talk about so many things I can’t even begin to list them. But amongst others we discussed why changing the menopause conversation is good, but putting…

People in this episode

Host: Sam Baker

Guest: Poorna Bell

Topics covered

• ageing
• body image
• diversity
• menopause
• women's empowerment
• narrative change

Keywords

• ageing
• menopause
• body image
• diversity
• women's stories
• narrative change
• empowerment

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: She Wanted More

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