Why are middle-aged women these days subject to so much rage and hatred – frequently from people who see themselves as kind and ‘on the right side of history’? What explains the popularity of the Karen meme, which references a stereotypically privileged white woman whom everyone feels entitled to loathe? Why does this age-old misogyny feel so very now?

As writer Victoria Smith approached middle age she made her peace with her sagging neckline and having to cope with ageing parents. But the disdain and vitriol she experienced as a woman in mid-life came as a shock. In her acclaimed book 'Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women' she traces the prejudice that has been directed towards older women down the ages and explores the prevalence of witch hunts in recent years.

Smith was joined in conversation by The Sunday Times’s Hadley Freeman and author and columnist and author Sonia Sodha. Together they explored why women who have the temerity to exist beyond the age at which they are conventionally deemed desirable to men are seen as superfluous to society; and they will look for solutions which can benefit all women – whether they are hags or hags-in-waiting.

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