The first book in the new series Diversity and Aging, Laura Hurd Clarke's Facing Age examines the relationship between aging and women in a culture obsessed with youthfulness. From weight gain, to wrinkles, to sagging skin, to gray hair, the book explores older women's complex and often contradictory feelings about their bodies and the physical realities of growing older. Although the women in the book express discontent about their aging visage, they also emphasize the importance of functional abilities and suggest that appearance becomes less central in later life. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted over a ten year period, Hurd Clarke brings alive feminist theories about aging, beauty work, femininity, and the body. The book also discusses medicine and the aging appearance, with interviews from medical providers and women about treatments such as Botox injections and injectable fillers. This book makes an important and timely contribution to the discussion of gendered ageism and older women's experiences of growing older in a youth-obsessed culture.
Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction Overview of the Book Methods and Samples Strengths and Limitations of the Studies Chapter 2: Theorizing the Aging and Aged Woman's Face, Body, and Embodied Experience Women and Body Image Women and the Feminine Beauty Ideal Beauty Ideology and Social Positioning Ageism and Beauty Ideology Older Women and Embodiment Medicalization and the Aging Female Body Theoretically Situating This Book Chapter 3: Embodied Appearance in Later Life: What Older Women Have to Say Older Women, Aging Bodied, and Body Image The Power of the Reflected Image The Losing Battle of Weight Gain Grey Matters: Older Women and their Hair Shifting Priorities and Pragmatic Acceptance Summary and Conclusions Chapter 4: Anti-aging Medicine, Wrinkles, and the Moral Imperative to Modify the Aging Face The Rise of Non-surgical Cosmetic Procedures Non-surgical Cosmetic Procedures and Aging: The Perspective of Physicians Interviews with Women before the Rise of Non-surgical Cosmetic Procedures Interviews with Women after the Development of Non-surgical Cosmetic Procedures Summary and Conclusions Chapter 5: Imaging Aging: Media Messages and the Perspectives of Older Women Beauty and Aging in Print Advertisements Older Women Reflect on the Body and Face of Beauty in the Media "Aging is a Serious Problem:" Women, Ageism Discourses, and Beauty Work Summary and Conclusions Chapter 6: Women and Aging: The Face of the Future Conclusion References Index About the Author
