Getting On: Some Thoughts on Women and Ageing

Getting On: Some Thoughts on Women and Ageing PDF

Author: Liz Byrski

Publisher: Momentum

Published: 2012-06-01

Total Pages: 102

ISBN-13: 1743340478

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Why are we so obsessed with staying young? In a culture that advocates the pursuit of endless youth and physical beauty how can we embrace the reality, the pleasures and the rewards of getting on? And what does the 'fight against ageing' mean when all women must eventually face the double-standard of ageism and sexism? Once past fifty, older women begin to sense that they have become invisible. From the visual displays in the mall to the pages of magazines and the television screens at the heart of our homes, young women with perfect skin, bouncy, enhanced breasts, pouting lips, long straight hair and perfect teeth gaze down on us. The ageing population is traditionally viewed as a problem; a drain on financial resources, health, housing and community services and a burden on younger generations. But living longer and living well are the triumphs of a civilised society. It is also the future that all generations want for themselves. Can we change the conversation on ageing? Getting old is tough, but it's also an opportunity to celebrate how far we have come and to shape a different future. In this essay, Liz Byrski (author of Last Chance Café and Bad Behaviour) examines the adventure of growing old in the twenty-first century: the new possibilities, the joy and the sorrow of solitude, the reality of grief and loss and the satisfaction of having travelled so far. "Writers like Byrski are needed not only for the clarity of their emotional intelligence but for the courage of their political convictions." West Australian

Not Too Old for That

Not Too Old for That PDF

Author: Vicki Larson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-04-04

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1538155621

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Helps women break through the tired and hurtful stereotypes of aging to better reflect who they are, how they live, and what they want as they age. Who hasn’t heard the stereotypes about women of a "certain age?” That’s the age when women become invisible, irrelevant, undesirable, asexual, unhinged, dried-up, hormonal messes. It’s when women quickly slide into fragility and become forgetful, passive, weak, feeble, debilitated, disabled, dependent, and depressed. Or so the story goes. Not only are those outdated narratives sexist and ageist, they are also damaging to women’s physical, emotional, financial, romantic, and sexual health. It’s time to change them. In Not Too Old for That, Vicki Larson helps change the narrative about being a woman at midlife and older. She questions what we’ve been told aging would be like and encourages us to instead ask ourselves, what do we want it to be like, and how can we get there? The key is to be curious, open-minded, and intentional about the ways we are becoming our future selves.We have an opportunity to create new narratives of aging as a woman, ones that value women at all stages of life, not just youth, and it starts with us. Once the stereotypes that have held women back are broken down, women can move past them and rather than feel helpless as the years add up, they can discover and tap into just how much agency they have. Not only will this book help to create a less-ageist, less-sexist, more-inclusive future, it will release our daughters and all young women from a similar future.

French Women Don't Get Fat

French Women Don't Get Fat PDF

Author: Mireille Guiliano

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2007-12-26

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 0307387992

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A gourmand's guide to the slim life shares the principles of French gastronomy, the art of enjoying all edibles in proportion, arguing that the secret of being thin and happy lies in the ability to appreciate and balance pleasures.

Women Coming of Age

Women Coming of Age PDF

Author: Jane Fonda

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: 1984

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 9780671469979

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Offers advice on diet, exercise, sexuality, and self-image for middle aged women. Includes the Prime Time Workout.

The Ways Women Age

The Ways Women Age PDF

Author: Abigail T. Brooks

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2017-03-07

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 0814724051

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Set against the backdrop of commercialized medicine in the United States, the author investigates the anti-aging craze from the perspective of women themselves, examining the rapidly changing cultural attitudes, pressures, and expectations of female aging. The women's stories in this book are personal biographies that explore identity and body image and are reflexively shaped by beauty standards, expectations of femininity, and an increasingly normalized climate of cosmetic anti-aging intervention.

No Stopping Us Now

No Stopping Us Now PDF

Author: Gail Collins

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 0316286494

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The beloved New York Times columnist "inspires women to embrace aging and look at it with a new sense of hope" in this lively, fascinating, eye-opening look at women and aging in America (Parade Magazine). "You're not getting older, you're getting better," or so promised the famous 1970's ad -- for women's hair dye. Americans have always had a complicated relationship with aging: embrace it, deny it, defer it -- and women have been on the front lines of the battle, willingly or not. In her lively social history of American women and aging, acclaimed New York Times columnist Gail Collins illustrates the ways in which age is an arbitrary concept that has swung back and forth over the centuries. From Plymouth Rock (when a woman was considered marriageable if "civil and under fifty years of age"), to a few generations later, when they were quietly retired to elderdom once they had passed the optimum age for reproduction, to recent decades when freedom from striving in the workplace and caretaking at home is often celebrated, to the first female nominee for president, American attitudes towards age have been a moving target. Gail Collins gives women reason to expect the best of their golden years.

Look Me in the Eye

Look Me in the Eye PDF

Author: Barbara Macdonald

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13:

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This classic book deals with ageism, feminism, lesbian relationships and how society treats them. It combines personal experience of ageing with groundbreaking feminist theory. This new, expanded edition includes a tribute to Barbara Macdonald by Lise Weil. Barbara died at the age of 86 in June, 2000, and LOOK ME IN THE EYE shows the impact her work has had on understanding women and ageing.

Ageing Women in Literature and Visual Culture

Ageing Women in Literature and Visual Culture PDF

Author: Cathy McGlynn

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-11-23

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 331963609X

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This timely collection engages with representations of women and ageing in literature and visual culture. Acknowledging that cultural conceptions of ageing are constructed and challenged across a variety of media and genres, the editors bring together experts in literature and visual culture to foster a dialogue across disciplines. Exploring the process of ageing in its cultural reflections, refractions and reimaginings, the contributors to Ageing Women in Literature and Visual Culture analyse how artists, writers, directors and performers challenge, and in some cases reaffirm, cultural constructions of ageing women, as well as give voice to ageing women’s subjectivities. The book concludes with an afterword by Germaine Greer which suggests possible avenues for future research.

This Chair Rocks

This Chair Rocks PDF

Author: Ashton Applewhite

Publisher: Celadon Books

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 1250311489

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“Wow. This book totally rocks. It arrived on a day when I was in deep confusion and sadness about my age. Everything about it, from my invisibility to my neck. Within four or five wise, passionate pages, I had found insight, illumination, and inspiration. I never use the word empower, but this book has empowered me.” —Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author Author, activist, and TED speaker Ashton Applewhite has written a rousing manifesto calling for an end to discrimination and prejudice on the basis of age. In our youth obsessed culture, we’re bombarded by media images and messages about the despairs and declines of our later years. Beauty and pharmaceutical companies work overtime to convince people to purchase products that will retain their youthful appearance and vitality. Wrinkles are embarrassing. Gray hair should be colored and bald heads covered with implants. Older minds and bodies are too frail to keep up with the pace of the modern working world and olders should just step aside for the new generation. Ashton Applewhite once held these beliefs too until she realized where this prejudice comes from and the damage it does. Lively, funny, and deeply researched, This Chair Rocks traces her journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in the process debunks myth after myth about late life. Explaining the roots of ageism in history and how it divides and debases, Applewhite examines how ageist stereotypes cripple the way our brains and bodies function, looks at ageism in the workplace and the bedroom, exposes the cost of the all-American myth of independence, critiques the portrayal of elders as burdens to society, describes what an all-age-friendly world would look like, and offers a rousing call to action. It’s time to create a world of age equality by making discrimination on the basis of age as unacceptable as any other kind of bias. Whether you’re older or hoping to get there, this book will shake you by the shoulders, cheer you up, make you mad, and change the way you see the rest of your life. Age pride!

70-Something

70-Something PDF

Author: Judy F. Kugel

Publisher: eBook Bakery

Published: 2017-04-22

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 9781938517686

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"Life in our 70's presents unique challenges as anyone already in or nearing that decade well knows. That's why readers of Judy Kugel's 70-Something: Life, Love and Retirement in the Bonus Years frequently find themselves nodding in recognition.In this book, based on her popular blog that The New York Times described as "quietly dramatic," Kugel offers often tender, inevitably wise, and frequently humorous insights into life during her eighth decade.Kugel shares her sense of loss on leaving her work community after thirty-three years at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and her successful quest for an engaging retirement. Her candid descriptions of married life, parenting, health issues, and friendships offer a sensitive look at how aging shapes our relationships.Kugel's scope is broad. Enjoy her take on travels, food, and exercise. You'll relate to her attempts at wrinkle eradication, to seeing her mother in the mirror and to reminding herself to be grateful for every day of her bonus years."