1st Edition

Women, Aging, and Ageism

By Evelyn R Rosenthal Copyright 1990
    178 Pages
    by Routledge

    178 Pages
    by Routledge

    Here is a unique text that examines the lives of middle-aged and old women. Women, Aging and Ageism, in response to the lack of literature that focuses on aging women, presents timely and definitive research that illustrates the implications of ageism and sexism. This landmark volume challenges powerful myths and dangerous stereotypes and identifies the damaging restrictions that society forces upon aging women.

    In extending feminist research to middle and old age, the chapters taken together comprise a critique of the conditions of the last third of women’s lives. The authors use analytical tools and methodologies developed and modified by feminists to explore questions previously unasked. They focus on issues of deep concern to women at midlife and beyond, including the politics of reproduction, sexuality, social isolation, violence against women, equal opportunity, and the feminization of poverty.

    Women, Aging and Ageism is available for classroom adoption. Ideal for students and helping professionals working with middle-aged and old women and their families, this book provides models of effective interventions grounded in field research and clinical practice. For all readers concerned about middle-aged and old women and the quality of their lives, Women, Aging and Ageism is a rich resource filled with ideas and information and an affirmative new volume about the limitless possibilities of women’s achievement in midlife and old age.

    Contents Preface
    • Women and Varieties of Ageism
    • Being Old: Seven Women, Seven Views
    • Friendships Among Old Women
    • Untitled (Poem)
    • On Gray Hair and Oppressed Brains
    • Reality? (Poem)
    • Hidden Death: The Sexual Effects of Hysterectomy
    • Sonnet (Poem)
    • Love and Work After 60: An Integration of Personal and Professional Growth Within a Long-Term Marriage
    • We Are Not Your Mothers: Report on Two Groups for Women Over Sixty
    • At Sixty-One (Poem)
    • Extended Care-Giving: The Experience of Surviving Spouses
    • Duologue (Poem)
    • Reflections of Midlife Lesbians on Their Adolescence
    • Women in Dual-Career Families and the Challenge of Retirement
    • Invention Begins at Forty: Older Women of the 19th Century as Inventors
    • Inventing Freedom: The Positive Poetic “Mutterings” of Older Women
    • Index

    Biography

    Evelyn R Rosenthal