One of the best parts of growing older? You can flirt all you like since you’ve become harmless.

Liz Smith’s quip treats aging as a social liberation rather than a decline. The joke hinges on the idea that, as one grows older, flirtation is increasingly read as playful and nonthreatening—“harmless”—so the social penalties or suspicions that might attach to flirtation in youth (ulterior motives, competition, impropriety) diminish. Beneath the humor is a commentary on how society polices desire and charisma differently across age groups, often desexualizing older people. Smith flips that stereotype into an advantage: if you’re presumed safe, you can enjoy the lightness of flirtation for its own sake—connection, wit, and charm—without the same stakes.