The term ‘anti-ageing’ may now be taboo, but the new era of beauty advertising still profits on women’s insecurities.

taboo 禁忌
profit 谋利

It is no longer fashionable to be anti-ageing: it has been rebadged as “pro-skin”, by the founder of American skincare brand Drunk Elephant and “anti-wrinkles” by Neutrogena. A new vocabulary now dominates the language of the beauty industry, the ethos of body-positivity finally inching its way up to the top.

rebadged 重新包装

dominate 主导

ethos 价值观

body-positivity

inch 谨慎移动 (inch one's way up to top 一点一点往上爬)

It falls into a familiar category: stuff you know is basically tripe, but you can’t really object to because what went before it was worse. Still, the principle is that any visible sign of ageing is a disgusting thing in a woman, whether that is a wrinkle or the overall dulling effect of having seen too much life.

stuff 事物，填充物

tripe 胡说八道，蠢主意

object to 反对

wrinkle 皱纹

overall 全身

Is it in any way preferable for the term “anti-ageing” to become taboo while all its apparatus remains intact? Take the Neutrogena products that dare not say “anti-ageing” still say “anti-wrinkles”. Or does it just resituate the discomfort back with the consumer?

preferable 更合适，更可取

apparatus 机制，机构

intact 完好的

resituate 重新置于某地

If fear of mortality is universal, then attempting to erase its reminders is reasonable. It is not a feminist’s duty to look like a tea-towel that got stuck at the back of a tumble dryer. It is where vanity is marshalled by commerce that it becomes oppressive and disproportionate. Anti-ageing is an OK word and an OK pursuit, so long as you don’t **buy into **products at all; make face masks out of white wine and bathe in the excretions of a donkey, like Cleopatra, who was oppressed by nobody.

mortality 死亡

vanity 虚荣心

marshal 操纵/集结（军队）

oppressive 压抑的

disproportionate 不成比例的

so long as/as long as 只要

buy into 买...账