Can women be sexy after 50, or are we still uncomfortable with older women who openly desire?
In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, Ksenija Popovic and Sue discuss Vladimir by Julia May Jonas: a darkly funny campus novel about a 58-year-old professor whose husband is under investigation for relationships with students, and whose own obsession with a younger novelist disrupts every rule she thought she understood.
But this is not a book review! We talk about female desire after 50, menopause, confidence, aging, beauty standards, sexuality, age-gap relationships, and the persistent double standard between older men and older women. Why is an older man with a younger woman still so culturally familiar, while an older woman with a younger man can seem provocative—or even unacceptable?
We also discuss Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall in the Netflix adaptation, the pressure women feel around aging, and whether culture is finally making room for older women to be complicated, sexual, ambitious, and fully visible.
What do you think? Can women be sexy after 50—and why are we still asking? Tell us in the comments.

#WomenOver50 #Vladimir #TransatlanticBookmarks

📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:
(As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases)

• Vladimir by Julia May Jonas: https://amzn.to/4goD9f6
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout: Elizabeth Strout Olive Kitteridge

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https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_

🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKS
Hosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks is a weekly literary podcast that uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.

New segments every Saturday, Monday, and Thursday.

👉🏻 CHAPTERS

00:00 The Complexities of Aging and Desire
07:29 Confidence in an Aging Woman
09:51 Older Woman, Younger Man
15:44 Do Young Men Have It Worse?