As a woman who has been in her early 40s for years, I have a unique perspective on how women age. Women will never be able to go full neo-victorian.

As a woman in her early 40s, I have seen so many of my peers hit the wall and go through divorce and all of the horrible emotions that comes with it. It's like a switch flips and a woman goes from a sexual being to a caretaker and then a bitter, resentful person. They can't accept that they are just not that interesting or attractive anymore and their attempts to attract younger men will ultimately fail. The younger men will find them gross and they will find the younger men out of their leagues. This is just a reality of life and unfortunately for these women, they can't just "make themselves" attractive or interesting again. They can't just go back to being a housewife and live off their husband forever because they will be single in a few years anyway. The only option for women is to become a caretaker and try and attract a man who is already financially secure so they can coast on his wealth for the rest of their lives.