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No less than a cultural revolution may be necessary to change the way women are treated in older age.
ABSTRACT This article considers how older women navigate the social perils of looking old in a society where beauty is equated with youthfulness and appearance is a primary way by which women gain and ultimately lose social status. Considering the negative social meanings attributed to agedness and the ways that these cultural discourses are manifested in ageist social processes, it explores how women turn to beauty work practices as a means of postponing their entrance into the socially disadvantaged category of those deemed old. | key words: older women, attractiveness, Western culture, feminine beauty ideal, social exclusion
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" (Hungerford, 1878, as cited in Speake, 2015). "Beauty is only skin deep" (Overbury, 1613, as cited in Speake, 2015). "The more beautiful the serpent, the more fatal its sting" (Downey, 1851). "As we grow old . . . the beauty steals inward" (Emerson, 1845, as cited in Emerson and Forbes, 1912).
The above are just some of the many adages about the nature of attractiveness, maxims reflecting the widely held assumption that beauty is a subjective, trivial, often duplicitous, and fleeting quality that diminishes with time. Despite the ambivalence with which it is socially regarded, beauty is one of the primary currencies by which women gain and ultimately lose social status in Western culture (Bordo, 2003).
This article explores how the feminine beauty ideal and the importance given to female appearances disadvantage older women and augment their social exclusion in later life. Examining the meanings attributed to oldness and aged female appearances, I consider how and why older women engage in beauty practices as they navigate the social perils of looking old.
Appearances, Beauty, and Older Women
Influencing the way we regard and interact with others, appearances matter. We use the appearances of others to make quick and lasting assessments of their social positions (e.g., age, ethnicity, gender, race, sexual orientation, and social class) and personal qualities (e.g., intelligence, health status, competence, likeability, desirability, morality, or even culpability). That said, appearances matter differently for men and women. Whereas men's cultural value is largely derived from their social and physical accomplishments,...