Cargando…
“I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study explores how older women with low socioeconomic status living in rural Tanzania give meaning to their (aging) body in relation to the ideals of femininity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Ten qualitative in-depth interviews and 10 focus group discussions (N = 60) w...
Autores principales: | , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2019
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6417766/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29045614 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnx161 |
_version_ | 1783403620212932608 |
---|---|
author | Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen Bailey, Ajay |
author_facet | Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen Bailey, Ajay |
author_sort | Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study explores how older women with low socioeconomic status living in rural Tanzania give meaning to their (aging) body in relation to the ideals of femininity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Ten qualitative in-depth interviews and 10 focus group discussions (N = 60) were conducted among women aged 60 and older. RESULTS: The findings reveal that older women perceive their aging body as “a burden.” This characterization of the body is linked to the inability of the aging body to live up to the women’s gendered lives. The conflict between their physical limitations and the desire to perform gendered tasks (internalized feminine habitus) affect the women’s process of self-identification. This led to emotional distress and subsequently threatened their survival and well-being. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The results suggest that older women need to be supported through interventions that are tailored to their cultural and socioeconomic context. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6417766 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | Oxford University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-64177662019-03-20 “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen Bailey, Ajay Gerontologist Feminity BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study explores how older women with low socioeconomic status living in rural Tanzania give meaning to their (aging) body in relation to the ideals of femininity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Ten qualitative in-depth interviews and 10 focus group discussions (N = 60) were conducted among women aged 60 and older. RESULTS: The findings reveal that older women perceive their aging body as “a burden.” This characterization of the body is linked to the inability of the aging body to live up to the women’s gendered lives. The conflict between their physical limitations and the desire to perform gendered tasks (internalized feminine habitus) affect the women’s process of self-identification. This led to emotional distress and subsequently threatened their survival and well-being. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The results suggest that older women need to be supported through interventions that are tailored to their cultural and socioeconomic context. Oxford University Press 2019-03 2017-10-13 /pmc/articles/PMC6417766/ /pubmed/29045614 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnx161 Text en © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com |
spellingShingle | Feminity Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen Bailey, Ajay “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body |
title | “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body |
title_full | “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body |
title_fullStr | “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body |
title_full_unstemmed | “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body |
title_short | “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body |
title_sort | “i have to listen to this old body”: femininity and the aging body |
topic | Feminity |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6417766/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29045614 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnx161 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT rutagumirwasyliviakaren ihavetolistentothisoldbodyfemininityandtheagingbody AT baileyajay ihavetolistentothisoldbodyfemininityandtheagingbody |