Microsoft Word - MukhopadhyayBRf.docx Book  Review     Dolan,  Josephine  and  Estella  Tincknell,  eds.  Aging  Femininities:  Troubling  Representations.    Cambridge   Scholars  Publishing.  2012.  Hardback.  ISBN-­‐‑13:  978-­‐‑1-­‐‑4438-­‐‑3883-­‐‑2  ,  ISBN-­‐‑10:  1-­‐‑4438-­‐‑3883-­‐‑7  ,  Price:   £39.99       Carol  C.  Mukhopadhyay   Professor  Emerita,  San  Jose  State  University,  San  Jose,  California,  USA   carol.mukhopadhyay@sjsu.edu,  webpage:  www.sjsu.edu/people/carol.mukhopadhyay                                                   Anthropology & Aging, Vol 37, No 1 (2016), pp.57-58 ISSN 2374-2267 (online) DOI 10.5195/aa.2016.153 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 United States License. This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program, and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Anthropology  &  Aging   Vol  37,  No  1  (2016)        ISSN  2374-­‐‑2267  (online)        DOI  10.5195/aa.2016.153      http://anthro-­‐‑age.pitt.edu     Mukhopadhyay  |  Book  Review  57   Book  Review     Dolan,  Josephine  and  Estella  Tincknell,  eds.  Aging  Femininities:  Troubling  Representations.    Cambridge  Scholars   Publishing.  2012.  Hardback.  ISBN-­‐‑13:  978-­‐‑1-­‐‑4438-­‐‑3883-­‐‑2  ,  ISBN-­‐‑10:  1-­‐‑4438-­‐‑3883-­‐‑7  ,  Price:  £39.99       Dr.  Carol  C.  Mukhopadhyay   Professor  Emerita,  San  Jose  State  University,  San  Jose,  California,  USA   carol.mukhopadhyay@sjsu.edu,  webpage:  www.sjsu.edu/people/carol.mukhopadhyay       Media,  cultural  and  feminist  studies,  according  to  editors  Dolan  and  Tincknell,  have  failed  to  address   cultural  representations  of  aging  women.  Implicitly,  only  the  young  and  "ʺyoung  bodies"ʺ  are  worthy  of  the   "ʺtheoretical   gaze"ʺ   [vii].     In   cultural   theory,   older  women   are  marginalized   or   "ʺpathologised."ʺ   Yet   aging   women  are   increasingly  topics  of  public  concern,  and  images  of  "ʺsuccessful  aging"ʺ,  especially  celebrities   like   Helen   Mirren,   are   proliferating.     Only   gerontology,   embedded   in   an   essentialist,   body-­‐‑as-­‐‑simply-­‐‑ biology  framework,  seems  to  take  older  women  seriously.     The   editors   hope   this   volume  will   stimulate   reflection   on   and   eventually   reshape   debates   about   "ʺaging  femininity"ʺ  and  "ʺwrest   the  discourse  of   the  aging  body  away  from  a  return   to  essentialism."ʺ   [ix].   They  wish   to   revisit   earlier   feminist  writings,   especially   Simone  de  Beauvoir'ʹs   deeply   negative   view  of   postmenopausal  women  as  both  invisible  and  filled  with  self-­‐‑loathing.       The   book   offers   valuable   perspectives   on   aging   from  media,   film,   and   cultural   studies.   It   is   the   culmination  of  several  conferences  and  workshops,  beginning  in  2007,  leading  to  the  Women,  Aging,  Media   [WAM]  research  network  of  UK  scholars;  and  the  European  Network  of  Aging  Studies.  The  18  authors  (17   from  the  UK),  come  from  the  humanities  [Drama,  English,  Art,  Photography;  Film  and  Culture  Studies]   rather  than  the  social  or  medical  sciences.       The  book  covers  many  representational  formats:  drama,  stories,  paintings,  photography,  TV  series,   films,   popular   singers,   opera,   photography,   festivals,   and   a   beauty   salon.    Analyses   come   from   critical   cultural  theory,  with  some  "ʺethnographic"ʺ  research.    Women  subjects  range  from  40  to  90,  but  mainly  are   over  55.   After   an   excellent   introduction,   sixteen   chapters   cluster   into   four   thematic   sections.   "ʺCultural   Herstories"ʺ   examines   past   representations   of   femininity   in:     Post-­‐‑WWI   British   Dramas   ("ʺthe   spinster"ʺ);   stories  by  Edgar  Allan  Poe;  "ʺCelebration  at  90"ʺ  by  renown  British  painter  W.  Barns-­‐‑Graham"ʺ;  "ʺWhistler'ʹs   Mother"ʺ;  and  two  UK  "ʺperiod  dramas"ʺ  (Downton  Abby  and  Call  the  Midwife).  Section  2,  Regulations  and   Transgressions,  explores  contemporary  representations  in  a  "ʺCelebration  of  Age  Festival"ʺ;    a  beauty  salon,   and   in   photo-­‐‑video-­‐‑collages   created   from   photo-­‐‑therapy   workshops   for   older   women.     Section   3:   Problematic  Postfeminists?  offers  critical  "ʺreadings"ʺ  of    the  popular  USA  TV  series,  Six  Feet  Under;  the  film   Heading   South;   and   media   coverage   of   Helen   Mirren.   Section   4:   Divas   and   Dolls,   focuses   on   three   celebrities:   79-­‐‑year   old   screen-­‐‑star  Honor   Blackman,   singers   Dolly   Parton   and  Madonna;   and   the   "ʺThe   Paradox  of  Age  and  Femininity"ʺ  in  the  Opera  Diva.   For  those  relatively  unfamiliar  with  popular  culture,  the  book  samples  this  powerfully-­‐‑influential   world.  Many  UK  productions  and  celebrities  have  global  audiences  ["ʺDownton  Abby"ʺ],  as  do  those  from   the  USA.  Yet  authors,  research  settings  and  participants  are  solidly  British,  popular  media  commentaries   are  drawn  from  UK  newspapers  or  magazines  like  Saga  .    Many  scholarly  references  are  from  the  UK...along,   apparently,  with  the  recurring  metaphor  for  aging  ["ʺmutton  dressed  up  as  lamb"ʺ].           Anthropology  &  Aging   Vol  37,  No  1  (2016)        ISSN  2374-­‐‑2267  (online)        DOI  10.5195/aa.2016.153      http://anthro-­‐‑age.pitt.edu             Mukhopadhyay  |  Book  Review  58     The  volume  also   illustrates   the  articulation  of  postmodern,  post-­‐‑structuralist   theory  with  cultural   feminist   theory.   The   introduction,   and  many   authors,   draw  upon   theorists   like   Foucault,  Kristeva,   and   Judith  Butler     [cf.  Gender  Trouble:  Feminism  and  the  Subversion  of  Identity,  1990,  London:  Routledge.].     Representation-­‐‑-­‐‑whether  positive  or  negative-­‐‑-­‐‑-­‐‑entails  issues  of  power  and  control,  the  power  to  discipline   and   regulate   bodies-­‐‑-­‐‑literally   and   figuratively,   externally   and   through   internalized  mechanisms   of   self-­‐‑ policing.    Such  subtle,  pervasive,  processes  produce  women'ʹs  "ʺconsent  to  oppression"ʺ  and  their  policing  of   transgressions  by  other  women."ʺ[p.  xi].   Bacon   and   Brooks   explore   the   Beauty   Salon   as   a   gendered,  meaning-­‐‑rich   site,   linked   to   "ʺbeauty   treatments"ʺ   that   are   "ʺ...part   of   a   Foucauldian   regime   for   the   containment   and   regulation   of   femininity"ʺ   [p.83].    But  such  places  are  becoming  "ʺtherapeutic"ʺ  sites,  where  "ʺhealth  therapies"ʺ  are  consumption  practices   necessary  for  a  "ʺhealthy  lifestyle"ʺ,  especially  for  aging  women  ."ʺ  Framed  as  "ʺtreats"ʺ  and  "ʺpleasurable"ʺ,  the   beauty   salon   "ʺcomplicates"ʺ   the   "ʺcontainment"ʺ   perspective   since   women   exert   "ʺagency"ʺ   and   experience   pleasure.(  p.87)   These  and  other  articles  remind  us  of  the  profound  role  popular  culture,  and  a  consumerist-­‐‑driven,   advertising-­‐‑   saturated   society,  plays   in   constructing   contemporary  meanings   around  gender   and  aging.     Aging  women   provide   grist   for   the   never-­‐‑ending   consumer  mill.   Images   of   "ʺsuccessful   aging"ʺ   seem   to   contradict   long-­‐‑standing   themes  of  aging  as   "ʺdecline"ʺ.    Yet   the  new  "ʺhot"ʺ   ["ʺcougar"ʺ]  older  woman  must   constantly   work   [and   buy   products]   to   ward   off   this   still-­‐‑dreaded   state.   Women'ʹs   "ʺempowerment"ʺ,   definitions  of  self  and  acceptability  reside  in  their  bodies...even  for  Madonna.    And  cultural  transgressions   still  exact  a  price,  at  least  in  movies  like  Going  South,  where  "ʺolder"ʺ  women  violate  conventional  age  and   racial  hierarchies.   Yet  resistance   is  possible.  Drawing  on  bodies  as  "ʺdiscursively   inscripted"ʺ,   the  products  of  culture   and  discourse  rather  than  essential,  biological  entities  (p.111),  women  pose  for  photographs,  "ʺperforming"ʺ   their   version   of   Whistler'ʹs   Mother.     Other   women   create   "ʺperformance   pieces"ʺ   from   photo-­‐‑collages,   challenging   conventional   images,   disrupting  discourse   by  deliberately   re-­‐‑viewing   anxiety-­‐‑linked  bodily   areas,  like  bellies  [the  book'ʹs  cover  photo].       One  can  find  weaknesses  in  any  volume.    Since  the  analyses  here  are  not  based  on  anthropological-­‐‑ type  research,  I'ʹm  not  sure  how  to  evaluate  their  validity.    I'ʹm  especially  concerned  about  how  different   audiences,  diverse  by  gender,  culture,  class,  ethnicity,  etc.,  might  interpret  these  representations.      I'ʹd  like   more  "ʺreal"ʺ  ethnography,  that  is,  in-­‐‑depth  exploration  of  "ʺnative"ʺ  perceptions-­‐‑attitudes.    And  cross-­‐‑cultural   comparison  is  lacking,  both  in  the  interpretation  and  the  representations  of  aging  women.   Nevertheless,  I  recommend  the  volume  to  anthropologists,  to  anyone  working  in  the  field  of  aging,   including  in  health  and  biological  sciences,  and  to  anyone  who  is  or  will  become  "ʺaged"ʺ  !    The  book  is  "ʺgood   to  think  with"ʺ,  the  introduction  provides  a  useful  overview,  and  one  can  pick  and  choose  from  the  various   short  [10-­‐‑15  pages]  chapters  as  interest  and  time  dictates.    The  editors  have  fulfilled  their  goal!