Stop Telling Me that I Look “Young” — It’s Not a Compliment

Saying that I look young just feels somewhat condescending

Photo by Raychan on Unsplash

One of the most frequent comments I hear from people — whether it’s a colleague, a friend, or even a family member — is that I “look so young”, like a twenty-year-old or someone who’s still in college or even worse, a teenager.

For some reason, people always make it a point to casually and comically throw that into conversation regardless of the number of times it’s already been said to me. And sure, it may have been sort of funny in the past and yes, I may still entertain it with a forced and somewhat awkward laugh, but the truth is, it’s also getting a bit old and quite a bit annoying.

These unwelcome comments about how young I look have continued to follow me into my thirties and they don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. And what I’d really like to say in response to these comments is that I just don’t find them funny anymore. Frankly, I never did. And I wish that people would stop constantly telling me that I look young. Because it’s not a compliment.

It’s downright degrading

Whether or not you mean it as an offense, saying that I look young just feels somewhat condescending based on how I’m interpreting it. It puts…