Suzanne Somers appeared on Oprah today and discussed her use of bioidentical hormones which she has sustained for a decade.

Not surprisingly, this fountain of youth can be obtained through extensive time, effort, and cost.  Yip, that sounds realistic for the average woman.  60 pills daily? Sure.  Estrogen daily? Bring it on. Progesterone two weeks a month? Check. A husband to make me my smoothie each morning to choke down those pills?  Yup.

Somers invited cameras into her home to show her daily routine, seen below. First she rubs hormone lotion on the inside of her upper arm, always estrogen and two weeks a month progesterone. She then injects estriol vaginally, which she did not let cameras see.

Then there are her pills, all 60 of them. 40 in the morning with a smoothie and the rest at night. She admits the pill quantity is extreme, saying, “I know I look like some kind of fanatic.”

Hey, you said it.

This is a prime example of the five feminist critiques of the beauty norm in our culture:

1. COST (Hello!): time and money

2. Double-standard: her husband doesn’t seem too tripped out about his age and he looks FAR older than she does.

3. Choice and control: embracing a cult of youth and thinness as established, designed and perpetuated by large institutions that profit from this standard measure of beauty

4. Physical and mental health: dangerous drugs, toxic cosmetics and toiltries, barbaric exercise and food practices

5. Maintaining other forms of inequality: ageism, racism, classism