One way to interpret the scenario of the woman rejected in midlife is to understand that her partner can no longer bear to see in her, as if in a mirror, the signs of his own ageing. Or perhaps he leaves his middle-aged wife so that he is free to rejuvenate himself via a new partner: ‘Loving the next generation is a kind of vampirism’, according to Frédéric Beigbeder, for example, who takes pride in his 'Dracula side’. But we may also consider a different theory: he sees his wife's ageing, but not his own. 'Men have no bodies' - so says Virginie Despentes, who, in my opinion, we should be taking at her word. Men's dominant position in economics and politics, in love and family relationships, but also in the artistic and literary worlds allows them to be absolute subjects and to make women into absolute objects. Western culture decided early on that the body was repulsive - and also that it was female, and vice versa. Theologians and philosophers projected their horror of the body onto women, and were thereby able to disavow the claims of their own bodies. Saint Augustine explains that, in men, the body reflects the soul, but that this isn't the case for women.
Mona Chollet, In Defence of Witches: Why Women Are Still On Trial
