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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Bat wings, bunions, and turkey wattles
— body transgressions and older women's strategic clothing choices | | Author(s) | Laura Hurd Clarke, Meridith Griffin, Katherine Maliha |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 29, part 5, July 2009 |
| Pages | pp 709-726 |
| Source | http://www.journals.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Older women ; Attitude ; Physical characteristics [elderly] ; Biological ageing ; Clothing ; Qualitative Studies ; Canada. |
| Annotation | Using data from in-depth interviews with 36 Canadian women aged 71 to 93, the authors investigate the stringent, taken-for-granted social norms that older women identified with respect to appropriate fashions for the ageing female body. Specifically, the participants argued that older women should refrain from wearing bright colours and revealing or overly suggestive styles. Expressing a preference for classic or traditional styles, the women also reported that they used clothing strategically to mask or compensate for bodily transgressions that had occurred over time as a result of the physical realities of ageing, including weight gain, altered body shapes, wrinkles and sagging or "flabby" arms and necks, referred to respectively as "bat wings" and "turkey wattles". In addition, the women contended that the consciously chose their clothing styles to compensate for age-related health issues and/or to present a competent, healthy self to others. Finally, the women talked about the ways in which their clothing choices were influenced by their changing lifestyles and constrained by a lack of desirable and affordable clothing options for the older female body. The findings are discussed in the light of Erving Goffman's concept of stigma and contemporary theorising about ageing, ageism, beauty work and the body. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090611003 A |
| Classmark | BD: DP: BA: BH: YW7: 3DP: 7S |
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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