Forty may not be the new 20, but it's certainly not your old 40.

We're not quite sure when the tipping point was reached, but 40 no longer strikes fear and dread into the souls of women.

"There was a time when single women turned 40, and they didn't want to get out of bed anymore," said Melinda Has, 40. "No, make that 30. That used to be a hard year, now I think women are smarter and not so scared."

Has, of St. Louis, said that 40-somethings and nearly 40-somethings have more examples now of how to be vivacious at 40, and that's a good thing.

"It's not about looks," she said. "But, of course, that helps."

Mariah Carey, 40, doesn't seem fazed by the milestone birthday. But, perhaps, her husband, Nick Cannon, 12 years her junior, and their plans to have a baby soon are keeping her youthful and optimistic.

Halle Berry, 42, a new mom who is perennially voted among Hollywood's most beautiful, was photographed on the beach rocking a bikini while toting her infant daughter. The blogosphere was rife with compliments.

The 1980s supermodel Cindy Crawford, now 43, recently used a nude spread in a fashion magazine to stage a comeback. Successful or not, it showed that she hasn't lost any sex appeal.

Valerie Bertinelli, 48, shed 40 pounds for a cover shoot on People magazine in an effort to declare that it's never OK to give up on your health or your looks because you've reached a certain age.

A slew of Hollywood women also reaching the 40-year milestone this year seem to be turning the tide on perceptions.

Among the newly or soon-to-be-inducted 40-somethings all born in 1969: Christy Turlington (Jan. 2), Jennifer Aniston (Feb. 11), Renee Zellweger (April 25), Cate Blanchett (May 14), Jennifer Lopez (July 24), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Sept. 25), Gwen Stefani (Oct. 3) and Ellen Pompeo (Nov. 10).

But all the news about women in their 40s and beyond isn't exactly celebratory.

There's the peculiar case of the "cougar."

Demi Moore, 46, and Ashton Kutcher, 31, are typically described as the poster couple for the newish phenomenon. Married four years now, it breaks the common stereotype of men preferring younger women.

Many people object to the characterization of women over 40 being associated with wild animals stalking younger men.

Candace Bushnell, 50 and married to a 40-year-old, penned a screed about her "cougar complex." In the article, the "Sex and the City" author says she's sick of being stereotyped as a predator. She's been married seven years.

"What I dislike most about the term is that a complex group of women in a variety of different situations end up lumped together under one sensationalist and slightly vulgar rubric," Bushnell wrote for a new online feature of More Magazine. "It reminds me of the old days when women were routinely divided into two categories: madonnas and whores. Chalk it up to progress: Now we can be madonnas and cougars!"

Interestingly enough, Bushnell scribed the don't-call-me-cougar essay for More's The Cougar Café, which includes other features called "Cougar Bait," a slideshow of 30 of the hottest younger men and an informational report on "How not to act old with a younger man."

Nanette Varian, the features editor of More, said in a phone interview, "Cougar is just a word we are having some fun with."

She said that the word has a double edge, but at least it recognizes that women over 40 are still a force to be reckoned with, not dismissed.

At its worst, the idea of a cougar is that of a past-her-prime woman clinging to youth with the wardrobe of a trashy 20-something, the face that bares the signs of numerous elective cosmetic procedures and a desperation that reeks more than her fruity perfume.

At its best, there's Halle Berry and her peers who appear conscious of their age, but unapologetic.

And there's sure to be debate about Courteney Cox's starring role in "Cougar Town," an uneven network comedy about a newly divorced, somewhat pathetic 40-something looking to relive the 20s she never experienced because she had a kid and stayed home to raise him. .

In real life, older women have decided that if they can't beat the cougar label. they might as well revel in it. There's a Miss Cougar America Gloria Navarro, 42, who was crowned at the National Cougar Convention in August and said: "I'm proud to represent a new breed of women who are strong, independent, successful and just looking for somebody who is going to be a little more exciting than your average 40-and-up man."

I guess turnabout is fair play.

Check out Deb's Style File blog for news on the world's first cougar cruise in December.