Scholarlink

<p>This article shows how theory of age relations adds to feminist intersectional scholarship and to the sociology of inequality to improve both. We argue that feminist and sociological theories of inequality can both benefit from a&#xa0;closer look at gendered constructions of old age, and we employ data from a&#xa0;study of 19&#xa0;middle-aged people in the United States (aged 42–61; nine&#xa0;men and ten&#xa0;women) to illustrate. We show that those constructions have little to do with number of years lived. We focus instead on context-specific assessments of the effects of loss of energy, ability to maintain gendered workloads, and other valued activities on women’s public displays of sexuality and their status at work. Whereas feminist scholarship tends to ignore the sexual status of old women, and the sociologies of old age and inequality tend to ignore age inequality, feminist gerontology informed by those perspectives can best explain experiences of old age as they are shaped by gender.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Feminism, Age Relations, and the Construction of Old Age

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年10月31日

查看全文
  • Toni Calasanti,
  • Neal King

摘要

This article shows how theory of age relations adds to feminist intersectional scholarship and to the sociology of inequality to improve both. We argue that feminist and sociological theories of inequality can both benefit from a closer look at gendered constructions of old age, and we employ data from a study of 19 middle-aged people in the United States (aged 42–61; nine men and ten women) to illustrate. We show that those constructions have little to do with number of years lived. We focus instead on context-specific assessments of the effects of loss of energy, ability to maintain gendered workloads, and other valued activities on women’s public displays of sexuality and their status at work. Whereas feminist scholarship tends to ignore the sexual status of old women, and the sociologies of old age and inequality tend to ignore age inequality, feminist gerontology informed by those perspectives can best explain experiences of old age as they are shaped by gender.