international news _ Jonty Skrufff _ 26th April 2005

Yoko Ono Demands The Right to Grow Old Disgracefully

72 year old counter-culture icon Yoko Ono has defended her right to wear skimpy hot-pants for a recent photo-shoot in New York and declared that dressing up provocatively is appropriate at any age.

"Why do females and males of our species want to look good? Because we want to fell good about ourselves and make other people feel good about us. I like having fun with clothes. Why not?" she wrote (in a widely circulated letter published by NME).

John Lennon's widow also offered words of wisdom for younger critics, pointing out "there is no difference between us except that you will get where we are after us and not before. Give us the respect and freedom you expect to get when you are at our stage of life."

Two years previously, Yoko chatted to Skrufff about clubbing and revealed that she felt equally enthusiastic about dancing as dressing up.

"I went through sexism and racism in the past and I survived in a way, and now I'm facing ageism, I suppose, but I don't feel it; I'm just me," said Yoko.

"I'd like to say to others feeling scared about clubbing, it's good, it feels beautiful and you shouldn't be scared of it," she advised.

"Somehow my world is lighter now, my senses are sharper and more acute and dancing has a lot to do with it. Dancing is so important, we can dance together, that's the key."

"Club culture is it, it's the only thing that's really alive, in a way. People dance and they connect with their bodies through dancing, which is so important, body to body. That connection used to exist in rock & roll during its early days but rock & roll has got more sophisticated over the years," she added. (Jonty Skrufff/Skrufff.com)

Related Link

http://www.jeclique.com/onoweb/ageism.html ('People over 50. There are so many of us on our planet. In fact, statistically, there are more of us than people under 50 now. We are the ones who toiled, held up the sky, and waited for you to appear on the scene to join us. We are the ones who have some knowledge acquired through our experience to give you, so you don't have to make the same mistakes we made. I think you still need us, darlings . . .!')