Warts and all

I took this quick shot of a cafe window as I sped past. It's a place popular for children's parties and this motif is probably left over from Halloween. It shows Snow White accepting the poisoned apple from the wicked queen who appears in guise of a witch - or rather, the popular stereotype of a witch: pointed hat/hood, unnatural complexion, hunched posture, crooked fingers and a hooked nose with a wart on it. It's an image that has always disturbed me yet it's seen over and over again. Some accounts suggest that it has its origins in the mediaeval portrayal of Jews, the nose and the pointed hat being recognizable markers.  But why only women?
Feminist analyses of the witch stereotype stress the underlying ambivalence in the way old(er) women, often widows,  were perceived historically: they frequently possessed knowledge and skills that could either heal or harm. Practices such as herbal medicine, bone-setting and midwifery were valued when they were seen to succeed but if the patient failed to recover or the baby was stillborn who got the blame? Wise women were powerful but at the same time vulnerable, all the more so as, post-menopause, they aged and weakened.
And this is why the stereotype bothers me. It's not only sexist (and possibly racist) but above all it's ageist. Stooped posture due to osteoporosis, arthritic hands,  skin blemishes, a sallow complexion - they are all signs of advancing age which renders women unattractive and undesirable in  popular perception (ask any female actor over the age of 40). And here too we see the polar opposite rendered in the portrayal of the Snow White: fair skin, slim straight figure, rosy lips, snub nose and rounded bosom - the ideal (fertile) woman?

Why is it acceptable for such offensive images of old women to be perpetuated when other dubious stereotypes have been eliminated. Two years ago supermarkets withdrew 'mental patient' costumes after protests. Golliwogs and blacked-up minstrels are no longer acceptable and measures have been put in place to outlaw the stigmatization of diverse sexual orientations. So why are warty old women still the object of  derision and disgust?  Is it OK to revile age and infirmity just because a wart on your nose says you're a witch?