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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Alternative femininities
— body, age and identity | | Author(s) | Samantha Holland |
| Publisher | Berg, Oxford, 2004 |
| Pages | 216 pp (Dress, body, culture) |
| Source | Berg Publishers, 1st Floor, Angel Court, 81 St Clements Street, Oxford OX4 1AW. |
| Keywords | Older women ; Physical characteristics [elderly] ; Biological ageing ; Clothing ; Attitude. |
| Annotation | The author uses a perspective of femininity that resists gender stereotypes, and explores a world in which women choose to age how they want. This book has been adapted from the author's PhD, and is based on data collected from semi-structured interviews on discourses such as ageing and body image. Interviewees are some 20 women in their 20s and 30s, most describing their lifestyles as "unconventional" or "not traditionally feminine". The first two chapters deal with the theoretical position and provide an account of the literature. Empirical chapters (3 to 7) focus on the contradictions and tensions experienced by the participants in relation to their appearance with regard to femininity and their own versions of femininity. Also investigated is the interplay between participants' insistence on their own femininity and their unconventional choices of "bohemian" clothes. Issues about body image are discussed in relation to interviewees' perceptions of themselves as feminine women, and whether their "differences" impact on these perceptions. This leads on to the social constraints and choices available to women as they grow older, particularly the negative aspects of ageing. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-040715005 B |
| Classmark | BD: BA: BH: YW7: DP |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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